If it wasn't written by Disney
by raspberry dreams
Summary: Troy and Gabriella meet while on holiday. Unaware that they will soon be attending the same school they become long distance friends. Not being a story written for children these teens have normal teenage problems and some less than functional relationships. Rated for adult themes and probable language and sex scenes in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The bold writing is directly from the movie.

A/N: For those of you who have read my other work this is NOT compatible with it. This is a totally new story with a very different Troy and Gabriella.

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"**Gabi, it's New Year's Eve, Enough reading"** Maria said frustrated by her daughter's complete lack of interest in meeting new people. Maria would bet good money that in the week they'd been at the resort Gabriella had not spoken to a single person other than herself and the staff.

"**But, Mom, I'm almost done"** Gabriella protested. She'd much rather stay in the quiet motel room and re-read her favourite book than go to a noisy party where she didn't know anyone and even if she did manage to meet someone worth talking to she wouldn't see again after the end of next week. She had enough meeting strangers starting a new school every semester 'this was supposed to be her holiday too she should be able to choose how she spent it' she though resentfully.

"**The teen party? I've laid out your best clothes, Come get ready" **Maria said firmly indicating that she would not be taking no for an answer. Gabriella would be going to that party or spending the evening listening to her mother lecture her all night. No to mention she'd feel guilty for keeping her mother from a party she would enjoy.

Gabriella sighed "**Can I have my book back?" **she asked.

Maria sighed too and handed over the worn hard cover copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' that her daughter seemed to value more than any other possession.

"**Thank you"** Gabriella said taking the book and getting up to get changed for the party she did not want to go to.

Pride however demanded that she try to look her best so she took the time to do her hair and makeup before putting on her new pale blue pullover. She took her book with her to the party hoping to find a quiet corner with enough light to read.

-o0o-

"**Keep working left, Troy. Got a guard in the championship game we're expecting, You'll torch 'em!" **Jack encouraged, as he put Troy through his paces on the half court in the resort gym.

"**By** **going left?"** Troy asked enjoying the fact that his father was relaxed about their training sessions and wishing it could be like this more often.

"**Yeah. He looks middle, you take it downtown"** Jack said enthusiastically.

"**OK, like this?"** Troy said pulling of the move successfully.

"**Whoo! That's it, man, Sweet, Let's see that in the game"** Jack crowed.

"**Boys?" **Lucille yelled failing to get their attention.

"**Oh you'll see that in the game! Don't worry about me,"** Troy said pleased with the relatively rare compliment from his father.

"**Did we really fly all this way to play more basketball?"** Lucille asked incredulously.

"**Yeah" **Jack and Troy replied in unison. Jack because he loved nothing more than playing and Troy because he was relishing the positive attention from his father and not wanting to do anything to ruin his attitude.

"**It's the last night of vacation, The party, remember?"** Lucille reminded her husband.

Jack looked at his wife dressed in her favourite party dress and knew he wasn't getting out of it.

"**Right, the party, The party, New Year's Eve" **he said trying to sound enthusiastic.

"**Troy, they have a kid's party downstairs in the Freestyle club"** Lucille told him.

"**Kid's party?"** Troy asked wondering how his mother could know him so little. An organised party run by staff for teenagers with nothing better to do. It sounded like the last place he would want to be. The staff here would be too vigilant for anyone to get away with spiking the punch or stealing some alcohol from one of the bars. He prayed it wouldn't degenerate to organised party games.

"**Young adults" **Lucille clarified making Troy roll his eyes.** "Now go, shower up"** she ordered. Troy sighed and figured he may as well at least look in on the party. It would keep his mother happy and he didn't have to stay if it was as awful as he expected.

-o0o-

Troy walked into the freestyle club looking far more confident than he felt. He'd kept to himself over the past week and not tried to make any friends instead enjoying spending time with his parents and challenging himself on the slopes. So he now found himself in a room full of people he hadn't exchanged more than a few odd words to as they'd met while waiting in line for the ski lifts.

It was a new situation for the king of East High. As much as he disliked being known only as the Basketball guy at times he had taken for granted the popularity being the captain of the most successful varsity team at school provided. Normally when he walked into a room there were dozens of teenagers smiling in welcome or trying to attract his attention. This party was very different from the parties he went to at home too. Organised and run by adult staff there was no alcohol or recreational drug use he could see. He hoped there would not be children's party games instead.

Here he was pretty much ignored as much as any attractive teenage boy is ever ignored by a group that includes teenage girls. He looked around wondering what to do. In truth Troy did not enjoy parties other than for the opportunity they gave him to get drunk or hook up with someone new. He found himself feeling strangely shy (something nobody at East High would have believed) trying to choose someone to approach to start a conversation. It struck him then that this was an opportunity to speak to the type of girl who he normally wouldn't approach in Albuquerque for their sake. To see if he could hold a normal conversation with a girl and maybe form an acquaintance with a girl who could talk about something other than make-up fashion and boys. As he was deciding his next step he was suddenly blinded by a search light and dragged up onto a makeshift stage.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella sighed as she walked into the freestyle club. Her mother had insisted that she attend the teen party currently taking place in the misguided assumption that it was better for Gabriella not to spend so much time alone. Gabriella looked around the crowd of strangers having fun. She was used to this and decided that party or not she would rather read her book than make the effort of meeting strangers she wouldn't see again after the week ended. She sat on the couch next to a reading lamp and tuned out the noise of the room as she became lost in the world of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. She was interrupted just as Mr Bingley was about to propose to Jane by a bright light shining into her eyes and hands grabbing her. She was frightened at first until she saw the smiling faces and noticed she was being pulled towards a stage in the middle of the room where a cute teenage boy had just been pushed up next to an older man with a microphone and a karaoke machine.

She thought about making a run for it when they shoved a microphone into her hand and the cute boy with a nervous expression started singing.

He had a nice voice but what impressed her most was his courage. She stepped up and sang her part as he started to turn away. For a moment she feared that he would abandon her up there by herself but he turned and stared at her with an admiring expression before resuming singing. She was still nervous but was amused by the way the boy let go of his anxiety and really started to get into singing with her. She backed away from him accidentally almost falling of the stage before the crowd pushed her back up towards him.

She forgot about the audience until they cheered loudly as they finished the song. Blushing madly she began to plan her escape when the cute boy stuck his hand out to her and said "**Troy"** loudly over the noise.

Troy's POV

Troy sung the first line of the song and turned away wondering if he would be able to get out of the room unmolested if he walked off the stage without completing the song. He was about to take his chances when the poor girl dragged up with him started to sing. She had the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard. He'd never been attracted to a girl because of her voice before and it made him turn and look at her. She was very pretty and nicely dressed in a modest way. She looked like the sort of girl who was not interested in chasing Troy the basketball captain or luring him into her bed. He realised it was his turn to sing again and quickly returned his attention to the song.

Troy found singing surprisingly enjoyable once he got over the start. He was used to performing in front of a crowd and was quickly able to ignore the audience as he did during a game. He put his all into singing enjoying himself and wanting to make a good impression on the girl in front of him. The girl kept glancing at him and Troy glanced flirtatiously back. He could see that the girl was more nervous than he was but his enthusiasm seemed to be contagious and she started getting into it.

As soon as the song was over he could see the girl getting ready to flee so he stuck out his hand and introduced himself quickly. It was too noisy to be easily heard but she did take his hand and reply **"Gabriella."**

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella had very little experience with boys. Every time she started a new school she hoped that things would change. In the first day or so she would meet some nice boys who seemed interested in getting to know her only to be frightened off when they realised how smart she was. Those few not intimidated by her intelligence, chose to avoid being seen with the 'freaky genius girl'.

This boy standing in front of her was different. They didn't go to the same school so he would never find out she was a brainiac geek. This was her opportunity to be herself; to try to have a relationship however short lived. She had toyed with the idea of flirting with the first cute guy she saw when she started at the new school next semester but that was a huge risk to take she didn't want to make an idiot of herself before anyone got to know her or she might not be able to make any friends at all. There was also the risk that she could target a boy who already had a popular girlfriend and make enemies and be bullied more than normal until her mother moved again.

Troy however she could throw herself at and if it didn't work out she would never have to see him again after the end of the week. She wasn't sure she wanted to lose her virginity to someone so quickly but she definitely wanted to experience a first kiss, so that if the opportunity ever came for a real relationship in the future she didn't ruin it by being the only sixteen year old in America who'd never been kissed.

She shook his hand and introduced herself and suggested that they get a drink.

Troy's POV

Gabriella had suggested a drink but it was really too loud to talk easily inside and the next karaoke couple were seriously out of tune so Troy suggested Hot chocolate and taking it outside.

Gabriella agreed so Troy bought them both drinks and they went out on the balcony. The seats were all damp so they couldn't sit down but the view was beautiful.

Troy had never felt so awkward talking to a girl before. His friends would laugh if they could see him now. He realised that this was the first time in ages he'd wanted to actually get to know a girl rather than talk them into sex. Even his teachers knew better than to pair him up with a girl for joint projects. The problem was he didn't know how to talk to a nice girl.

He decided that he couldn't go wrong with genuine compliments.** "Seriously, you have an amazing voice, You're a singer, right?"**

"**Just church choir is all, I tried to solo and nearly fainted"** Gabriella admitted not sure why she was telling this to a stranger.

"**Really? Why is that?"** Troy asked surprised. She'd done so well on stage tonight he couldn't believe she was so shy normally but she obviously was nervous even talking to him.

"**I looked at the people staring at me, Next thing I knew, I was staring at the ceiling, End of solo career" **Gabriella said self depreciatingly.

"**The way you sang tonight, that's hard to believe"** Troy said trying to give her the confidence to continue talking to him.

"**Well that was the first time I did that, It was so cool"** Gabriella said enthusiastically.

"**I know! Completely! " **Troy agreed grinning.

"**You sound like you've sung a lot, too" **Gabriella said blushing.

"**Yeah, sure, My showerhead is very impressed with me"** Troy said his self consciousness making him sarcastic.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella could tell that Troy felt awkward talking to her and that made her feel self conscious too. She thought about making her excuses to leave.

"**I guess I better go and find my Mom and wish her a happy New Year"** she said as she heard the countdown and the fireworks started as the clock struck twelve and they could hear the celebrations.

"**Yeah! Me too, I mean not your Mom, my Mom, and Dad"** he said.

She realised that he was nervous too and gathered up her courage to kiss him on the cheek. "Happy New Year Troy" she whispered.

Troy wrapped his arms around her and kissed her chastely on the mouth. "Happy New Year" he replied. "**Just so you know. I have to say that singing with you is the most fun I've had on this entire vacation."**

"Me too" she admitted smiling.

Troy bent his head down to kiss her again more passionately. He ran his tongue over her lower lip asking for more and she opened her mouth and welcomed him in.

As a first real kiss it was almost perfect. Gabriella still felt nervous and self conscious wondering if she was doing it right.

She pulled away gasping for air and Troy chuckled.

Troy's POV

Troy was enjoying the kiss. It was obvious to him that Gabriella hadn't had much experience with kissing but her enthusiasm more than made up for any lack of skill and Troy found that kissing her seemed to mean more than kissing or bedding the cheerleader's and other girls that constantly threw themselves at him.

His heart fell for a second when Gabriella pulled roughly away before he realised that she was panting and had pulled away to breathe. He chuckled in relief stopping when he saw Gabriella's hurt look.

"You're doing great" he encouraged gently. "Breathe through your nose" he suggested before kissing her again.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella was hurt that he laughed at her and went to move away when he tightened his arms. She flushed at his word of encouragement embarrassed that he could tell that it was her first time kissing. He didn't seem to mind though and kissed her again. Gabriella relaxed more and stopped worrying about whether she was doing it right and just enjoyed the sensations he was evoking. They stood there kissing both lost in each other until the staff came to shoo them inside as the party was breaking up. Gabriella frowned and checked her phone for the time. "Oh no it's 1.15 Mom will be worried about me" she exclaimed.

"Come I'll walk you to your door" Troy offered.

Gabriella smiled and accepted, wondering if he was just being a gentleman or if like her he didn't want their evening to end.

Troy's POV

Troy was surprised to find they'd been kissing for over an hour it hardly seemed any time at all. He couldn't remember when he'd enjoyed just kissing someone. He could feel his erection straining his jeans but Gabriella didn't seem to have noticed. He was thankful that thick coats were good for hiding those sorts of things, he didn't want to scare her off.

As they entered the heated building though he quickly became too warm to wear his coat. He shucked it off and held it in front of him. Gabriella had also taken her coat off revealing a very attractive figure. Troy could see the peaks of her nipples through her sweater and was pleased to realise she was also turned on by their kisses.

Troy slung his arm around her shoulders as they waited for the elevator. "I had a really great time tonight" he said smiling at her.

Gabriella smiled back. She had such a pretty smile. "Me too" she said.

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow some time?" he asked hopefully.

"I have a lesson at nine but I could meet you at ten" she replied.

Troy grinned "Yeah where do you want to meet?"

At the top of run 8, that's where my lesson is" Gabriella suggested hesitantly.

Troy was disappointed for a moment. Run 8 was a beginner's slope but he really wanted to spend more time with Gabriella. "Sure" he agreed "I'll see you at ten o'clock at the top of Run 8."

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella saw the flash of disappointment cross Troy's face when she suggested a meeting place "we could meet somewhere else if you like?" she offered.

"No Run 8 is fine" Troy replied smiling at her thoughtfulness.

"You're not a beginner, are you?" she asked.

"No but I'm happy to snowboard with you on the beginner slopes" he reassured her.

"You don't have to, we could meet for lunch or something" she said letting her insecurities get the better of her.

Troy's POV

Troy was touched by her thoughtfulness but he wanted to spend the whole day with her. He was tempted to suggest they meet at the ski lodge so that he would have the opportunity to convince her to abandon skiing and spend the day in his hotel room but thought better of it. Starting a sexual relationship might be a lot of fun and very rewarding but if he did that when they might be on opposite ends of the country next week they'd never become friends. Gabriella intrigued him and he wanted to get to know her. Maybe if they were friends she'd want to keep talking to him when they returned home.

They stepped into the elevator and were the only two on board. Troy took the opportunity to kiss her again, dropping his coat to put both arms around her. Without the two bulky snow coats between them things quickly became more heated.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella found that kissing without the extra layers of clothing was even better. She could feel Troy's warmth through their clothes as her breasts were crushed up against his hard chest and the muscles in his back underneath her hands.

It was several minutes before she became aware of the bulge in his jeans against her stomach. When they separated she couldn't help but glance down at it blushing hotly. A small part of her couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to touch. Fortunately before she could do anything about it the lift came to a stop reminding her they were in a public place even if they were currently alone.

Troy's POV

Troy was amused at her innocence and pleased that she looked more intrigued than horrified at the sight of his erection. Part of him wanted nothing more than to take her back to his room and have as much sex as she would allow. It'd been a long time since anyone had been able to turn him on as much as Gabriella had without touching him. Hell he'd even managed to have sex a few times without feeling quite this aroused. He walked her along the hallway to her door pointing out his own on the way.

Standing outside her door he kissed her again, firmly keeping his hands in appropriate places for public. He wished he could invite her to his room but understood that she must return to her own room before her mother realised she was still out.

"**Uh... I'll call you, I'll call you tomorrow" **he said.

"**Yeah!"** Gabriella said desperately hoping that he wasn't just saying it to be polite.

"**Here, put your number in" **Troy said handing her his phone. Gabriella entered her number carefully checking she'd got it right before handing back the phone.

"**You too"** she handed him her phone hoping he'd put his number in too. He took a photo of himself for the identification and entered his number.

"**There you go"** he said smiling "I'll see you tomorrow at the top of run 8 at ten o'clock" he said kissing her cheek as she opened the door to the room she was sharing with her mother.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella enjoyed their final kiss goodnight as much as all the others. She'd taken note of his room number and wondered if she'd be visiting him there at some stage during the week. And what he might expect of her if she did. She didn't know if she was more scared or excited by the thought of visiting a boy in his hotel room.

She got ready for bed and lay there thinking about the evening she'd spent with Troy. His kisses were intoxicating and she couldn't wait to get to know him better. She hoped that he didn't have second thoughts before meeting her and that he wouldn't be too bored skiing with her on the beginner slopes.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5 for your review for 'If Ryan Gets the Part" and to ashtizzyfan1993, GabbybabyV and Spenni who have followed or favourited my work since I last posted.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy's POV

Troy woke very early the next morning hoping to get a couple of hours out on the expert slopes to burn off some excess energy before meeting Gabriella at ten o'clock. Unfortunately he'd just finished dressing to go down to breakfast when his Mom knocked on his door.

"You're up early" she said in surprise.

"Yeah I wanted to make an early start because I have a date later and I don't think she skis very well yet" Troy explained smiling happily. "I'll probably spend half the day on the beginner slopes."

"Oh Troy I'm sorry. I've been called back to work urgently. We need to hurry and pack our flight leaves at 8" Lucille said.

Troy bit back his disappointment knowing his mother felt bad enough about having to cut their holiday short without his throwing a tantrum about it. "Okay Mom have we got time for breakfast?" he asked wondering if he could ring Gabriella to join him in the dining room.

"Not really I've a car booked for 15 minutes. We'll eat at the airport after we check in" Lucille replied.

Troy reached up and pulled his suitcase off the top of the wardrobe, hurriedly throwing in his clothes and stuff.

He debated writing Gabriella a note but decided not to as he didn't want to cause her problems with her Mom. Gabriella hadn't said much about her Mom the night before but Troy knew that usually girls didn't reach sixteen as inexperienced as Gabriella was without strict parental supervision.

It was too early to call so he pocketed his phone and went to help his Dad carry everything downstairs to the waiting shuttle car.

He had breakfast with his parents, getting his phone out to text Gabriella while his mother was in the restroom.

"You're not trying to set up a hook-up for tonight already?" his father asked frowning.

"No letting Gabriella know I need to cancel the date we had this morning" Troy explained.

"Who is Gabriella?" Jack asked.

"A girl I met last night, I was meeting her by the lifts at ten o'clock" Troy said working hard at trying not to betray how disappointed he was not to be able to keep the date

"A real date not just a hook-up?" Jack asked surprised.

"Yeah dad a real date, we didn't have sex last night we made out and actually talked. She's really nice."

"A girl you actually wanted to talk to" Jack mocked. "She obviously doesn't know you."

"No and now she never will" Troy said crossly hiding the hurt he felt at his father's words. "She wasn't like the cheerleaders she actually had real thoughts, and talked about stuff other than makeup clothes and boys. She was interesting."

Troy knew his dad disapproved of his lifestyle, but that he felt that as long as he was being safe and his social life didn't interfere with basketball then there wasn't much he could do about it. He didn't understand how trapped Troy felt by his need to keep peace with the team and the cheerleaders. Or how his own actions actually encouraged the behaviour he disapproved of.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella woke at the sound of her phone receiving the text. Remembering the night before she smiled sleepily. She picked up the phone and grinned when she saw the message was from Troy.

Her grin faded quickly as she read the message

SORRY CAN'T MAKE DATE

MOM CALLED BACK 2 WORK

AT AIRPORT W8 4 PLANE

TROY

She quickly sent back a reply

AM SORRY 2 HEAR

HAVE GOOD FLIGHT

CALL ME L8R

GABRIELLA

And a minute later heard back from Troy. It seemed he really was disappointed not to be able to see her that day.

GOOD MORNING

HOPE I DIDNT WAKE U

I HAD FUN LAST NITE

TROY

They text back and forth until Troy had to turn off his phone for take off.

Gabriella sighed and decided to get up. Her enthusiasm for the upcoming day already waning.

"Good morning Gabriella. How was the party last night?"

Gabriella shrugged "I had a great time. I met this guy, he was really nice" she said unenthusiastically.

"Then why so long in the face this morning? Please tell me you're not hung over or coming down from a drug high."

"No of course not" Gabriella said shocked and angry that her mother could think that way.

"Then what's the matter?" Maria asked.

"This guy last night. We made plans to meet up after my lesson this morning but he just text and cancelled."

"Did he say why?" Lucille asked frowning. If the little brat had just had second thoughts and had hurt her daughter for no good reason she was tempted to track him down and injure him.

"His Mom got called back to work he was texting from the airport" Gabriella explained. "For what it's worth he sounded genuinely sorry not to be able to meet me."

"Well it's not like you would have seen him again after this week ended. Maybe you'll meet someone nice at East High" Maria said pragmatically.

"What's the point, it will be just like all my other schools." Gabriella said dejectedly.

"You don't know that" Maria scolded.

"Either I hide my intelligence which will harm my chances at a scholarship to Stanford or everyone will see me as the freaky genius girl again" Gabriella retorted getting up and walking away before her mother could scold her again about her attitude.

Gabriella attended her ski lesson then practiced diligently until lunch time. She collected the book she'd abandoned the night before from lost property, bought a sandwich and took it up to her room where she lost herself again in the world of Jane Austen.

Late afternoon she was distracted by the sound of an incoming text.

HI BEAUTIFUL

HAD A GOOD DAY ON SLOPES?

TROY

HI TROY

T'WAS OK

MISSED U

DID U GET HOME SAFE

G

Gabriella panicked for a moment after she hit send, she didn't want to frighten him off. Was 'missed U' too much.

MISSED U2

LONG BORING DAY TRAVELLING

PARENTS NOT TALKING

DAD'S PISSED WITH MOM BOUT WORK

HATE BEING STUCK IN MIDDLE

Gabriella decided to call in response to that and they spent an hour on the phone commiserating about various experiences with their parent's jobs and sharing information about themselves.

"Hello"

"Hi Troy it's me."

"Gabriella" Troy exclaimed feeling much more cheerful.

"You sounded kind of down. Are you okay?" Gabriella asked.

"I hate it when Mom and Dad fight" Troy said sighing.

"Yeah I used to hate that too?" Gabriella commiserated.

"Used to?" Toy asked.

"Dad died in a car accident when I was eleven" Gabriella explained unwillingly. She waited for Troy to make his excuses and hang up because she'd made him feel awkward as had happened when she'd mentioned her father's death to new acquaintances in the past.

"Oh I'm sorry Gabriella. I must sound like a real jerk bitching about my Dad..." Troy said apologetically.

"No don't worry about it Troy" Gabriella said resignedly.

"I really am sorry. I hope I haven't upset you bringing it up. Are you going to be okay?" Troy asked anxiously.

Gabriella didn't know what to say. She appreciated his honest reaction and concern and didn't want him to feel bad for upsetting her.

"So what are you doing?" Troy asked trying to find a less distressing subject.

"Reading 'Pride and Prejudice'" Gabriella replied so surprised Troy wanted to continue the call that she automatically told the truth instead of claiming to be doing something more interesting or cool.

"For class or for fun?" Troy asked.

"For fun. It's one of my all time favourite books. What are you doing?" Gabriella asked.

"Hiding in my room talking to you" Troy admitted.

Gabriella laughed. "Surely it's not that bad?" she asked not knowing whether to be concerned about Troy's home life or tease him for his cowardice.

"You didn't just spend the whole day sitting in between two people who are actively not talking to each other. I swear it's like they're the teenagers" Troy said tiredly.

"I'm sorry you had such a bad day. Will they make up again soon?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, it depends how long it takes Mom to sort out the crises at work" Troy replied. "She went straight there as soon as we got home so it must be something urgent."

"I hope things settle down" Gabriella said sympathetically.

"So where do you live?" Troy asked wanting to know more about her instead of talking about his frustrations with his parents.

Gabriella gave a bitter laugh "Would you believe that I don't actually know where I will live when we leave here?"

"Huh" was Troy's intelligent response.

"We move around so often because of Mom's job and I just got sick of hearing it. I threw a bit of a tantrum when she told me we were moving again and refused to listed when she tried to tell me where we were moving to. So the moving company is currently unpacking out new house but I don't even know what state it's in and I refuse to ask Mom Gabriella explained defiantly."

Troy laughed "That's got to be the strangest answer to that question anyone ever gave. Hey maybe you'll move somewhere near me" he suggested.

"Where do you live?" Gabriella asked.

"Not telling" Troy teased. "I'll tell you when you tell me where you live."

Gabriella laughed too suddenly feeling better about not knowing where she was moving to. "Okay deal" she agreed.

"Okay so when will you find out?" Troy asked.

"We leave here on Friday. I assume we'll be going straight to the new place because Mom will want me to start school on Monday. It's easier to start a new school on the first day of term and I'd have two days to get my room straight" Gabriella explained. "So I'll find out Friday unless I cave in and ask earlier."

"It sounds like you know too much about that. What's it like to start a new school?" Troy asked curiously.

"You've never changed schools?" Gabriella asked enviously.

"I've never moved house I was actually born right in this room, Mom wanted a home birth and Dad refused to let her have me in their room. He said he was afraid he'd never be able to get it up again with memories like that" Troy said laughing.

"Umm...Wow" Gabriella said laughing embarrassed by Troy's bluntness.

"So tell me what's the worst thing about starting a new school?" Troy asked.

"Not knowing anyone. I try to be polite to a guy and the next minute his girlfriend and all her friends are in my face telling me what a bitch I am just because I sat in an empty seat next to him or something. And the people who are all really friendly for the first few days and then refuse to have anything to do with me because they've realised I'm a geek and being seen with me will hurt their reputation. It's got worse since we started high school" Gabriella ranted.

"But you have the opportunity to start again. To change the way people see you" Troy said encouragingly.

"Yes but you can't really change that much. Otherwise you're playing a part and eventually you get caught out. And if your not being yourself you can't make real friends anyway because they only like the fake you" Gabriella said practically.

"Yeah but there's some things I really want to change and I'm trying but everyone expects me to behave a certain way" Troy replied.

"What do you want to change?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy was quiet for a moment "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Gabriella said hastily "I didn't mean to pry."

"I know you didn't and it's not that I want to keep secrets from you but I'm afraid you'll not want to be my friend if you knew" Troy babbled.

"Troy I am your friend. What you get up to at school isn't likely to change that because I don't see you there. I like the person you are when you're talking to me"

"I still would like to wait and let you get to know the real me before I tell you about this" Troy said.

"Okay Troy" Gabriella said sighing "I'll trust that you will tell me when you can" she said unwillingly wondering what he was hiding from her

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said gratefully.

"So tell me some of the things you like about yourself then" Gabriella asked him to turn the conversation to a more positive note.

"Well I love sports, I play Basketball and Golf for school. I used to play Baseball over the summer and I love to ski snowboard, surf, run and swim. I'm a bit of an exercise junkie. I can't imagine not being active" Troy said.

"Were you one of those kids who couldn't sit still?" Gabriella asked amused.

"To be honest I still am if I haven't run in the morning" Troy admitted.

"Wow! I love watching sports but I'm really not good at any of them. I like to swim though and I used to do Jazz ballet until I got to the age that it was hard to find a class that didn't take it too seriously" Gabriella replied. "I'd kind of like to do a ballroom dancing class but the classes close to where I lived recently only accepted couples."

"That sounds a bit discriminatory" Troy said.

"Yeah but to be fair the class was geared toward competitive dancing and you can't compete without a partner, there were other classes for older people that you could go to where my partner wouldn't have to be a boy. I asked Mom to go with me but she really didn't have time" Gabriella explained.

"What else do you like to do?" Troy asked.

Gabriella hesitated she didn't want Troy to know what a brainiac geek she was. She now understood better what Troy was talking about when he didn't want to tell her what he wanted to change about how people saw him for fear that she wouldn't want to continue being his friend.

"Um I'm a bit of a loner because we've moved so often. I love to read, and to sing though not in front of an audience. I loved walking on the beach when we lived in Seattle but we weren't there in the summer so it wasn't warm enough to swim in the ocean. I like being outside, my favourite chore is gardening though I'm not very good at it. We've never really done much because we know we're not going to stay long."

Troy noticed her hesitation and realised she was holding back. He felt a bit hypocritical being upset about it when Gabriella had been so understanding when he'd admitted he hadn't wanted to tell her something. He decided to leave it for now "My favourite chore is washing the car" he said instead. "Chad and I do it together and turn it into a water fight."

"Is Chad your brother?" Gabriella asked assuming he was from the way Troy spoke of him but wondering why Troy hadn't mentioned him earlier.

Troy grinned "Just about. He's been my best friend since we were toddlers. I'm an only child."

"Me too. It must be wonderful to have a friend like that" Gabriella said wistfully.

"It is. He knows me better than I know myself at times and it's great to have a second set of parents I can go to when I want help or advice" Troy said smiling at the thought of the Danforths.

"You don't get along with your parents?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "Mostly I do but Dad teaches at East High and coaches Basketball so a lot of our interactions are all mixed up between teacher, coach and parent. Sometimes I just want advice that is coming solely from a father point of view and I can't trust my Dad to give me that anymore" he said sadly.

Gabriella thought about that for a minute "I guess that also means you never get away with anything too huh?"

"That's where it gets odd. Dad always knows everything I get up to but sometimes even when he doesn't like what I'm doing he doesn't do anything about it because it's better for the team if the coach doesn't get involved so I get away with it even though if Mom found out I'd be in trouble" Troy explained sighing.

"Like what?" Gabriella asked confused.

"Getting drunk out with the rest of the team. If I did it with friends that weren't on the team I'd be grounded but it isn't good for the captain to be grounded by the coach because of a party hosted by one of the other team members because next time they just wouldn't invite me and that would change the way the team interacts on and off the court so I not only get away with it he helps cover it up so Mom doesn't find out" Troy explained.

"And drugs, would he cover that up too?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"Troy sighed "I don't know. Luckily I've never been tempted to try them. I would like to say that he'd step in to stop me and get me the help I needed but..." Troy trailed off unable to voice his doubts out loud.

"And what about your Mom?" Gabriella asked hoping for something more positive to distract Troy from his doubts about his father.

"Mom's pretty strict, she would definitely not be ok with me drinking but she's pretty busy with work all the time and she get's called in like she did today a lot. What's your Mom like?" Troy asked having had enough of talking about his parents for a while. This was the most he'd ever told anyone, only the Danforths knew more because they'd been the one's Troy turned to for help when he needed it.

"She works a lot too" Gabriella said "And we move a lot because of her job. Mom says the company have promised that she won't be moved again until I graduate but I doubt if she'd turn down a big promotion just so we could stay in one place. She knows I'm really upset about moving again when she promised that we'd stay the whole school year in Atlanta. It's not even that I loved Atlanta or the school I was at it's that she'd promised we wouldn't move and we are in the middle of moving. She never even asked me if it would be okay just told me to start packing about a week before we left" Gabriella said heatedly.

"I thought you were from Seattle?" Troy asked confused.

"No that was last winter, we moved to Chicago in May for three months and then we've been in Atlanta since September" Gabriella said tiredly.

"That must be really tough" Troy said sympathetically.

"Yeah I used to dream that I'd make some wonderful friends and then next time Mom got transferred they'd offer to let me stay until the end of the school year just so I wouldn't have to start at another school in the middle of the semester. But as I get older it's harder to make friends at all everyone is already established in their little cliques."

"Yeah I understand that. I would like to make some new friends but everyone expects me to stay in the group I'm in." Troy commiserated. "What you really need to do would be to somehow be invisible for the first week so you could get to know who you wanted to be friends with and how they dressed and behaved so you could make sure you fit in from the start."

Gabriella laughed. "Well that would help but unless you know Harry Potter's phone number so you can ask him to loan me his invisibility cloak..."

Troy burst out laughing. "I'm afraid I don't have any sensible advice I've never had to start a school where people didn't know me."

"I'm sorry Troy but I have to go. Mom wants me to go down to dinner with her" Gabriella said.

"Okay thanks for calling. Have a nice dinner I strongly recommend the apple pie it was great. I'll call you again" Troy said making light of having to hang up. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. And he didn't want their conversation to end though he had to admit he was feeling hungry.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Mrs Wesley-Salvatore, Ciaosmarty, Ceciliaa93, old voldys gone moldy, Siobhan, Wildcats2016, Boris Yeltsin, EllaBieber20, sentarstage and FangirlingForLife for your support.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

He ate dinner with his father, apparently his mother's need to return to work ASAP had meant literally the minute she arrived home so Jack had called for pizza for himself and Troy seeing there wasn't any fresh food in the house and he couldn't be bothered to shop. Troy didn't try to make conversation knowing that anything he tried to say would turn into a discussion about basketball and the need to continue to practice as much as possible.

Troy excused himself telling his father that he was going over to Chad's to play playstation games. Unfortunately he hadn't called ahead and when he got to Chad's he was out. Troy sighed and wondered what to do next. Normally he would call Liana and set up a hook-up as he hadn't been with her for a while and she was starting to get pissed with him about it, but for some reason he didn't feel like hooking up tonight. He didn't think he could stand listening to her empty headed and mean spirited chatter though the sexual release would be welcome. He ran through the other girls he might call for some company but found himself making excuses why he shouldn't call any of them. Instead he walked towards the park and sat on the swings. He tried to call Gabriella who was in the shower and did not answer. Disappointed he didn't leave a message and returned home and attempted to sleep. Unfortunately he was in the shower himself when Gabriella text back to say goodnight.

Later that night Gabriella lay in bed thinking over her conversation with Troy. She knew she wasn't being completely honest with Troy about some things and he'd admitted that he wasn't either but their conversation had been surprisingly serious about how they felt about their parents. She smiled as she thought that they had the potential to become really good friends even if they never saw each other again.

She sat up and quickly jotted down the information Troy had told her so she wouldn't forget anything they'd talked about. This was one of the tricks she'd learnt when she'd researched how to make new friends and settle into a new school. She stopped shocked as she realised that Troy had called his school East High which was the name her Mom had said when talking about the new school she'd enrolled her into. Sighing Gabriella realised that nearly every large town in America could possiblyhave an East High there could be literally hundreds if not thousands of them across the country, it wasn't likely to be the same one.

Troy woke early next morning and efficiently stripped his bed and went downstairs to start to put his stuff through the wash before going for his morning run and looking for food to cook for breakfast. It would surprise many of his school mates who believed Troy was a complete male chauvinist but Troy was good at normal household chores and normally took care of all his own laundry as well as a lot of the cooking and cleaning around the house without being asked. In truth Troy respected his mother and knew that she earned almost 80% of their household income. She had a very highly paid job and worked long hours to get ahead. Troy's reputation for being a chauvinist came from the fact that he couldn't bring himself to like or respect the girls that constantly threw themselves at him.

The problem for Troy was that though he wasn't a chauvinist his father was. Jack worked 36 hours per week and felt that he wasn't responsible for the women's work around the house. He did agree to help Troy with the shopping, mostly to keep an eye on Troy's diet to keep him in peak condition for basketball. Lucille Bolton on the other hand worked more than 70 hours on an average week and 100 hours or more per week when there was an urgent job to be done, which happened more often than she'd like to admit, and while she was happy to cook and clean when she was home and had the energy to do so wasn't home often enough. Troy learned at a young age that unless he wanted to live on cheese toasties and wear dirty clothes he needed to learn to cook for himself and do his own laundry. Now at sixteen he was a decent cook and cooked almost all the main meals for his family freeing his mom to make desserts and bake cookies something his father refused to let him do.

Troy's current problem was how to make something decent to eat without any meat, bread, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables or cereals.

"There's no food" he said to his father as Jack stumbled into the kitchen still half asleep.

"I'll go shopping while you go for your run" Jack replied yawning.

"I've already been" Troy said dryly.

"Five miles?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Seven. I'm starving I've been up for hours" Troy replied. "Where's Mom?"

"Where do you think? She left for work at the crack of dawn"

"At least she came home" Troy said sighing. "I'm going to Chad's. Mrs Danforth will feed me."

"Troy you can't just..." Jack started to protest embarrassed at having the neighbours know how poor a job he did at looking after his son.

"Can it Dad! Of course I can. It won't be the first time. They're used to picking up your slack" Troy said angrily as he walked out the back door.

Troy walked into the Danforth kitchen without knocking the way he always had.

Charlene Danforth looked up at the boy she considered a second son with a smile "Hi Troy I thought you were away on holiday for another week."

"Mom got called back to work yesterday" Troy explained.

Charlene winced picturing the argument that would have caused. "Chad's still asleep. Have you had breakfast?"

Troy's slight flush and shamefaced look down at his feet was answer enough. "Oh honey you never need to feel bad about coming here for a meal. We love to have you. Run upstairs and wake up that lazy son of mine and I'll have your breakfast ready when you get back" Charlene said reaching up to ruffle his hair.

"Do you want me to wake Charlotte too?" Troy asked.

"No she stayed at a friend's last night" Charlene replied. "It's good to have you back Troy we've missed you."

"Thanks Mrs D." Troy said quietly before going up to wake Chad as asked.

"Hey Chad man. Time to wake up" Troy said pulling the pillow out from under his friend's head.

"Ugh Troy too early" Chad mumbled rolling back over.

"We'll I could eat all your breakfast too if you don't want to get up" Troy offered.

"Sure" Chad said.

Troy leaned on the door jamb wondering how long it would take. A moment later Chad shot up "Troy what are you doing here? You're supposed to be skiing." He walked over and gave his friend a manly clap on the shoulder.

"Mom got called back to work" Troy said.

Chad sighed "I'm sorry man" he said sympathetically.

"Yeah well. What you got planned for the next few days?" Troy asked.

"Basketball, X-box, Zeke and Jason and I were talking about a campout Wednesday night after Zeke's grandparents leave. Wanna come?" Chad asked throwing on some clothes.

"Sounds good but I'll have to clear it with Dad. Where are we going?" Troy asked.

"We haven't decided. Jason thinks it'd be cool to go up into the Sandia's but I don't want to camp in the snow" Chad said. "Zeke voted for camping out in his backyard like we did when we were kids."

Troy laughed "I think I'm gonna vote with Zeke unless we go over to the snow fields. I could have used another couple of days snowboarding."

They walked downstairs together to find a mountain of food waiting for them. "All this for us?" Chad exclaimed. "You should come over for breakfast more often" he told his friend.

"Troy honey can you drive me to work this morning? My car was making a strange sound on the way home last night"

"Sure I'll go and ask Dad if I can borrow the car" Troy said starting to get up.

"Don't you dare leave that table until you've finished eating young man" Charlene scolded affectionately. "You need your energy to run around in that basketball court all day."

Troy grinned and helped himself to another plate of bacon and eggs. "You make the best breakfasts Mrs Danforth" he said. He finished his breakfast and headed home promising to let Mrs Danforth know about the ride to work.

"Hi Dad can I borrow the car to drive Mrs D to work?" Troy asked finding his father in the lounge watching basketball.

"We need to shop this morning" Jack said stubbornly.

"I can do that on the way back if you give me the money" Troy offered.

"Bring me the notepad by the phone and I'll write you a list" Jack agreed.

"He wrote industriously for a few minutes. "I want you to get everything on this list and nothing else Troy. I mean it" he said handing over the list and his ATM card.

"Troy glanced through the list. "We need laundry powder and dishwasher tablets" he said.

"Buy whatever you need to clean the house" Jack said dismissively. "But Troy, no junk food that's not on the list"

"Sure Dad" Troy rolled his eyes; the only junk food on the list was stuff he hated anyway. Did his father really believe he could prevent a sixteen year old from eating any junk food at all? "I'll just go and let Mrs D know I can drive her."

Troy pulled into the staff park behind the family planning clinic where Charlene Danforth worked. "Do you want me to pick you up? What time do you finish work?" Troy asked.

"Not so fast young man. I want you to come in and have a check-up"

"Mrs Danforth" Troy whined though he'd known it was coming since she'd asked him to drive her to work.

"No Troy. I'm not going to preach to you about your decisions but I need to know you're healthy. Please" Charlene said seriously.

Troy sighed but got out of the car and followed the woman who he'd do almost anything for into the clinic.

Charlene unlocked the door and started flipping on the lights. She took a blood sample and ordered Troy to strip for the physical examination.

Troy lay on the paper covered exam plinth with his head turned towards the wall trying not to become aroused as his best friend's mother checked him for disease symptoms. Finally it was over "That looks fine Troy you can get dressed while I start the coffee machine."

"Do I have to sit through the lecture again?" Troy asked as she came back in while he was tying his shoes.

Charlene sighed. "Would it make any difference?" she asked sighing. "I'd like you to encourage your partners to come and get checked as well but..."

"They'd be insulted and I'd get in trouble with Dad for upsetting them all" Troy finished her sentence as she hesitated.

"I was going to say I didn't think we had enough appointments in the next month for all of them" Charlene said smartly.

Troy laughed. "It's not that bad" he protested.

"Troy I want you to sit there and write down the name of every girl you've had sex with since I examined you three months ago" Charlene said.

"Why, is there something wrong with me? I've been careful" Troy asked alarmed.

"No everything looked fine though we won't know for sure until the blood work comes back" Charlene said reassuringly. "I just want you to realise how promiscuous you are. What a risk you're taking."

"Did you make Chad do this too?" Troy asked.

"Yes I did. And he was surprised by the number of names on the list" Charlene said firmly. "Start with last night and work your way back, if you don't remember their name put in a quick description of what you know about them."

Troy grumbled and got to work. He wrote down all the cheerleaders' names and started to think about the other random hook-ups. There weren't as many as he thought there would be, most nights he was approached by a cheerleader before he had the opportunity to choose who to approach himself. He looked at what he'd written and shook his head. He couldn't say he actually liked any of the girls on the list.

Troy turned the list over and got up. There was no point thinking about it and feeling sorry for himself. "I'm done" he said.

"Thanks Troy, I don't need to see it" Charlene said.

Troy screwed up the paper and threw it in the bin. "I'll see you around" he said.

"Goodbye Troy. I'll let you know your blood test results when they come in" Charlene said wondering if she'd done the wrong thing making him write the list, it had certainly upset him a lot more than it upset Chad. She would have hugged him but assumed he would still be feeling awkward after his examination. Hopefully she would see him at home soon and could make it up to him. His favourite choc chip cookies should do the trick.

Gabriella finished her class and dutifully went to practice on the beginner slopes. She could tell she was improving but to be totally honest she still didn't enjoy skiing, in fact she disliked it more than she had at the beginning of the week. She reached the bottom of the run with relief and lined up to wait for the ski lift. She was surrounded by children and young parents. She exchanged polite smiles with the people next to her in line but didn't try to make conversation. She realised that in the past week she'd spoken to her mother the staff and Troy. Troy's life sounded much busier than hers yet he was usually the first to call and they spoke for hours without getting bored with the conversation. She hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking that their phone conversations seemed to be the highlight of his day as well.

She was feeling cold and tired and her legs were starting to ache from the unusual exercise and decided to go in. Her mother would be upset with her again but she just couldn't see the point of continually riding an uncomfortable tow rope up the mountain just to slide back down again in a semi controlled way, too fast and risking colliding with other mad people doing the same thing. She made her way inside intending to curl up with a good book and try to nap and hopefully think of Troy.

Troy did the shopping dutifully collecting exactly what was on the list though he also added some protein bars for the days when his father didn't let him out of lunchtime training early enough to eat before afternoon classes. He hid them in the garage before unpacking the rest of the groceries and tidying up the kitchen. He then did his father's laundry before preparing a healthy lunch.

He called his father to join him and had to listen to a lecture about all the things he'd done wrong in the last game which Jack had been watching. As soon as he finished eating his father dragged him outside to work on his jump shot and three pointers.

It was several hours before he could escape claiming having arranged to meet his friends to get a game going in the park.

"Invite them round here to play" Jack suggested.

"No we're gonna try to get a game going with the other people there" Troy replied. "Besides it's fun playing with strangers" Troy said dismissively hoping his father wouldn't start an argument.

"Some of those strangers might play for their own schools. It's not good to give away secrets" Jack argued.

"Dad, the season's over. The only game we need to worry about is against the knights. They're not going to be playing all the way over here" Troy said annoyed at his father's attempt to control him.

"There's still next season Troy" Jack reminded him.

"If that was a problem you never would have encouraged me to go to all those basketball day camps last summer" Troy argued. "I'm meeting my friends. We are going to have a fun afternoon mucking about playing ball. I'll ask them if they want to come back and play here instead but it's up to them." He got up and walked out not caring if his father objected.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, Boris Yeltsin, EllaBieber20, rcmcrules, Kingjm527, SecretLover97, LovatoMyInspiration, stordec23, LiveandLoveYourLife4Ever and wildcat21ish for your support.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclaimer" I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy waited impatiently for 4.45 when the sun would set at Breckenridge and Gabriella would be finished skiing for the day. He and Chad had played basketball with Jason and Zeke at the courts in the park. It had been a relaxing afternoon reminding Troy exactly what he loved so much about basketball. It had still been light though cold when he'd left his friends and instead of heading home he found an empty park bench and called Gabriella.

"Hi Troy" Gabriella said excited to hear his voice.

"Hey Gabriella did you have a good day skiing?" Troy asked cheerfully.

"Not really to be honest" Gabriella said.

"Why? Did you hurt yourself?" Troy asked concerned.

"No I'm a bit stiff and sore from the last couple of days so I went to my class and then did a couple of runs on the beginner slope then came in and sat in the spa for an hour before lunch. I didn't go back out" Gabriella explained.

Troy laughed "so you had a good day, just not skiing?" he asked.

"Yeah I suppose it's a bit of a waste being at a ski resort and not skiing" Gabriella said guiltily.

"Well yeah , but spending the whole day skiing and not enjoying it would be worse. This is your holiday, you should get to spend it however you want" Troy said.

"I bet you wouldn't have done it though" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella I would have been on the first ski lift and the last. Mom and Dad would have had to drag me inside long enough to eat lunch" Troy said. "I absolutely love it and I never get the chance during term. One of my cousins skis competitively and I'm so jealous he gets to spend all his time on the slopes. But that's me. If you don't love it what sort of holiday would you enjoy?"

"I don't know. I would have liked to go to the beach somewhere warm but not too crowded. What about you is skiing your dream vacation?" Gabriella said.

"Well I love it. But to tell the truth any vacation where we actually go away for two weeks and Mom doesn't spend all her time on the phone working and fighting with Dad about it would be good. The best vacation I ever had was the year I went to California with the Danforths. We spent four days at Disneyland and I saw the ocean for the first time and learned to surf. It was amazing."

"So we both like beach holidays" Gabriella said happily.

"Yeah we should organise to spend a week together at the beach this summer if we can" Troy said.

"I don't think I'd be allowed to go on holiday with you" Gabriella said blushing at the idea.

"We could try to manipulate our parents into booking a holiday at the same place at the same time" Troy suggested. "It's my turn to pick where we go this summer though I don't get to choose which week Mom will have off work."

"Same here, I can pretty much guarantee Mom will take me anywhere I want for a week in summer if I asked but it would have to be a week that suited her employer" Gabriella said sighing.

"Would your Mom let me come and visit you one weekend over the summer?" Troy asked.

"I don't know Troy" Gabriella didn't want to say no but she really doubted that her mother would let her have a boy come to visit.

Troy picked up on that and said. "We'll sort something out. Let's be optimistic. Maybe our workaholic mother's will be given the same week off."

Gabriella giggled. "Maybe" she agreed. "Do you really think we will still be talking to each other every day in four or five months?"

"Sure. Why not" Troy said. "I enjoy talking to you" He started to shiver and got up walking towards home while talking.

"You wanna play 20 questions?" Troy asked as conversation waned.

"Okay what rules do you want to set?" Gabriella agreed.

"You can't ask anything you don't want to or can't answer yourself" Troy suggested.

"Okay you can say if you don't want to answer a question but then the other person gets to ask two other questions. If you answer you must tell the truth" Gabriella offered.

"Okay deal. You can go first" Troy agreed.

"Okay but remember that I'm in public and Mom's not far away" Gabriella warned him.

"Can she hear you?" Troy asked.

"Not at the moment I'll let you know if she comes closer. What's your favourite food?"

"Mrs Danforth's lasagne and warm cookies" Troy said "yours?"

"Mom makes some pretty great Brownies when she bothers to cook or Satay chicken and curries. Worst teacher?"

"Currently it'd have to be Dad" Troy said sadly. "He's actually a pretty good teacher but I hate being at the same school, hate hearing other people talk about him or shut up because I've walked in and I know what they were about to say. Mostly I just want my Dad back but all I get these days is Coach Bolton."

"I'm sorry Troy. I didn't mean to make you sad" Gabriella apologised.

"It's okay. What about you worst teacher?" Troy asked.

"One of my teacher's in Seattle was a real creep. He used to leer at the girls. It was so bad that a lot of girls would put on a loose jacket to cover up" Gabriella said shuddering.

"Didn't anyone complain?" Troy asked.

"Yeah he lost his job about a month before I left. I felt kind of bad for him but I was glad he was gone" Gabriella said.

"Well that question ended up being a lot more depressing that it should've been" Troy commented laughing.

"Okay favourite ice-cream flavour?" Gabriella asked determined to keep it light.

"Mint choc chip" Troy said immediately.

"Eww Yuck" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Yuck?" Troy said highly offended.

"I can't stand choc chips in ice cream. Ice cream's supposed to be smooth and chips make it rough. And a lot of mint ice creams taste like toothpaste" Gabriella complained.

"Well what's your favourite ice cream?" Troy demanded.

"Vanilla."

"Boring" Troy teased.

"It's classic because it's perfect" Gabriella argued.

"Agree to disagree, next question" Troy said.

"Tell me about your first kiss" Gabriella said blushing.

"Proper kiss or truth or dare kiss?" Troy asked. "Mom's got a photo of me kissing Leah who used to live across the road when I was four but I don't actually remember much about it. First proper kiss was in the locker room after my first senior varsity game just over two years ago Brittany who kissed me was one of the cheerleaders."

"Did you date her?" Gabriella asked.

"No she was a senior and I was a freshman, she wasn't interested in me, it was kind of an initiation thing" Troy said hoping Gabriella wouldn't ask about it.

"Then that's not a proper kiss" Gabriella said.

"Yeah it was, I did the initiation and the team all laughed I was embarrassed and she kissed me to make me feel better" Troy explained. "Her boyfriend was pissed about it."

"What was the initiation?" Gabriella asked.

"Hey no fair that's three questions in a row" Troy protested.

"Okay then ask me a question" Gabriella agreed.

Troy thought about it up until now he'd been copying Gabriella's questions letting her decide how serious or personal it got but he had a strong suspicion that he'd been Gabriella's first proper kiss and he didn't want to embarrass her by asking.

"Okay Um what's your birthday and where were you born?" Troy asked.

"I was born in New York and my birthday is the 14th of November" Gabriella said.

"So your 16?" Troy said. "Me too."

Gabriella sighed "No I'm 15"

"Okay your turn" Troy said not sure he wanted to hear what she'd ask next.

"Tell me about the initiation?" Gabriella said softly.

Troy sighed. "It was tradition that all new players get a blowjob from the captain of the cheerleader after they shoot their first varsity goal. I was 13 and everyone laughed because I came too quickly. Brittany could see I was almost going to cry and she hugged me and told me not to worry about it that they probably did the same their first time too. And then she kissed me and offered to help me practice later."

"Did your dad know it was going to happen?" Gabriella asked shocked.

"I dunno. I told him that night about the girls having a key to the boy's locker room emergency exit and coming in after the game but he didn't get the lock changed until over the summer break so it wouldn't look like it had anything to do with me. Funny thing is as much as I hated it at first by the start of the following season I was almost disappointed they couldn't get in" Troy rambled revealing more than he realised.

"Did you get them a new key? Your Dad probably has one" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah he does of course in case of a fire or something, but I didn't want the new players to have to go through that. It still happens at the after party but at least not everyone is watching. I told them when they asked that the school paid extra for a registered key that you cannot have recut without the authorising paperwork" Troy said.

"I'm proud of you Troy" Gabriella said smiling.

Troy was shocked he'd expected Gabriella to be disgusted by what had happened to him. To either be upset that he'd been sexually active since he was 13 or to see him as a victim in that situation. But proud of him?

"What for?" he asked.

"That you didn't get another key cut to protect the younger members of your team from what happened to you" Gabriella explained.

"It still happens though" Troy said tiredly.

"Yeah at a party where they've at least they've had some alcohol to take the edge off the situation and the whole team's not watching and laughing. It is better isn't it?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah Chad, Jason and Zeke all enjoyed their initiation they didn't find it humiliating like I did" Troy admitted.

"Troy it wasn't your fault and Brittany was probably right, the others wouldn't have done any better in their first time and you protected your friends the best you could. Be proud of that" Gabriella said encouragingly.

"I know all that" Troy admitted. "But it still doesn't feel any better."

"Is this why you don't like cheerleaders?" Gabriella asked.

"I didn't say I don't like them I just find their conversation very limited. I'm not into makeup, discussing who's the hottest boy, fashion or diets. I also think most cheerleaders are sluts I wouldn't trust one enough to date."

"But you don't dislike them?" Gabriella asked confused

"Most of them are good for casual sex" Troy commented.

"So you'd have sex with someone you don't like or trust enough to consider dating?" Gabriella asked slightly horrified.

"Well yeah they're offering it's not like they think it means anything either. I'm not allowed to actually date Gabriella. Dad says girlfriends are too big a distraction and I need to stay on top of my game to get a scholarship. He looks the other way about the cheerleaders as long as I know they're only fuck buddies and don't let them get in the way of training."

"That's horrible Troy" Gabriella said.

"It's not like I'm taking advantage of a decent girl. These are the same girls who blow every new player in public. And I'm honest with them. They all know they'll never be the only one" Troy said defensively. "I've never claimed to like any of them."

"I don't know what to say" Gabriella said.

"I'm sorry" Troy apologised sadly afraid he'd ruined their friendship.

"Thank you for being honest with me" Gabriella said slowly.

They were both quiet for a moment then Troy gathered up his courage and asked "What's your favourite movie?"

"What?" Gabriella asked confused by the change of topic.

"It's my turn to ask a question. That is if you still want to play with me" Troy replied anxiously.

"Um I really liked "Pride and Prejudice" last year, the version with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. It has the feel of the book" Gabriella replied realising that she did want to keep her friendship with Troy even if she didn't like some of the things he did.

"I haven't seen it, is that your favourite book too?" Troy asked remembering that she'd been rereading it the other day.

"One of yes. I love a lot of Jane Austen's writing" Gabriella said smiling. "What's your favourite movie?"

"I love the Harry Potter movies, and Batman and the Fast and the Furious series" Troy said relieved that Gabriella was still playing the game with him in spite of what he'd said.

"Did you read Harry Potter or just watch the movie?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah I read them after I saw the first movie" Troy said.  
"Which one is your favourite?" Gabriella asked.

"Umm I think 'Goblet of Fire' is my favourite book but the 'Philosopher's Stone' is my favourite movie" Troy answered.

"Yeah I liked that one, the series seemed to change after that as if the author was having trouble writing it or was forced to write it differently than she wanted to" Gabriella agreed.

"There's also the theory that she didn't write the last two books" Troy commented wanting to engage Gabriella in real conversation rather than just answering each other's questions.

"Yeah I've heard that but I think she did" Gabriella said. "I think she just struggled with teenage emotions and stuff. She started out writing a children's book and it got more difficult for her to write when the characters weren't children anymore."

"Yeah maybe" Troy agreed. "I think she totally got the relationships wrong. Hermione and Ron would have ended up killing each other."

Gabriella didn't offer an opinion on this and they were both silent for a moment before Troy asked another question. "What's your favourite holiday?"

"This year, New Year's Eve has been my favourite, normally Christmas because Mom's company shuts down completely for at least a week. What's yours" Gabriella said smiling.

"Christmas. We spend it with Mom's family. But this New Year's Eve was pretty special though I've never thought much of New Year's before" Troy said smiling as well.

"What's your favourite TV show?" Gabriella asked trying to keep to more superficial topics.

"I honestly don't watch a lot of TV but I like crime shows and the Simpsons" Troy replied.

"I love the forensics in the CSI series' and NCIS though Abby's personality annoys me. I enjoy Friends and Bones and Greys anatomy" Gabriella replied enthusiastically.

"You like medical shows. Do you like the reality medical shows too?" Troy asked.

"Not really. Though they are interesting I don't like how impersonal they are you don't really get to know the people, I'd rather watch drama's. When you see the same characters every week it's a bit like visiting friends" Gabriella explained.

"And you don't have to move away from television shows. So when you arrive in your new place your TV friends will still be there?" Troy asked perceptively.

"Yes" Gabriella agreed sadly.

"You'll have me this time too. I'll be your friend no matter where you move to and because I'm not at school with you it won't matter if you move again. Who knows one day maybe one of these moves will be somewhere close enough to visit.

"I'd like that. If we're not close enough to visit this time then I may just look forward to moving again" Gabriella said adding silently 'I might even put off going to Stanford to spend senior year with you if Mom moves to the right city.'

"I have to go Troy. Mom's waiting for me to eat dinner."

Troy checked the time. "Oh shit Dad will be waiting for me to cook dinner. He's going to shoot me" he exclaimed.

"You cook dinner? I didn't know you could cook" Gabriella said surprised.

"Yeah I started the summer before I started junior high when Mom's business started taking off. If you ever tell anyone this I'll deny it but I got sick of eating take-away all the time. It was a bit hit and miss at first but I can follow a simple recipe pretty well now. Mrs Danforth taught me" Troy explained.

Gabriella giggled. "You're Mom works a lot then?"

"Twelve to fourteen hours a day seven days a week the last year and believe it or not it's got worse since New Year. We came home early and she just dropped Dad and me off and we didn't see her again until late the following evening. Dad says she comes home for a few hours sleep late every night but she's been working nearly eighteen hours most days" Troy replied.

"Do you think she's really working that many hours or is she avoiding your Dad?" Gabriella asked.

"Or having an affair?" Troy asked cynically. "I don't know" he said sadly answering his own question. "If it's an affair it's not a very successful one she doesn't seem particularly happy. She's probably still at work. Which is why Dad will be in such a foul mood when dinner's so late" Troy replied.

"I wish I could help" Gabriella said.

"You do help Gabriella" Troy said sincerely. "Have a nice dinner with your Mom. I'll try and call you later if Dad doesn't have me out training too late as punishment for not being home in time to cook dinner."

"Night Troy. Good luck with your Dad."

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5 Ceciliaa93, old voldys gone moldy, Siobhan, stordec23, hana V and inlovewith HP for your support.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

The next morning after running and basketball training with his father and completing his household chores, Troy went over to visit his Uncle and Aunt and official youngest cousin Jacob. "Hi Aunt Deb" he said happily finding them just finishing a late breakfast.

"Oh hello Troy I thought you were away until school went back?" Debra said.

"Mom got called back to work" Troy said rolling his eyes. "Can I take Jacob outside to play?" he asked seeing the toddler had finished eating.

"That mean's Jack's got a few days free. I wonder if he'd like to go hunting tomorrow" Steve Bolton said cheerfully.

"Steve, you promised to look after Jacob tomorrow. I have plans" Debra protested.

"I could look after Jacob" Troy offered.

"Are you sure Troy, I was going to my sister's hen's night. I'm leaving tonight and I'll be gone all weekend" Debra asked worriedly.

"I could go and get my stuff and stay over so Dad and Steve can leave early in the morning without disturbing Jakie, and they would be back tomorrow night" Troy said encouragingly. "I've had lots of practice looking after Jacob. I promise he'll be safe with me." It was true Troy spent at least one evening per week looking after his cousin for several hours while his uncle and aunt went out.

Debra sighed "I'd appreciate that Troy" she agreed glaring at her husband.

"I'll be back in about an hour" Troy said.

"Wait up Troy, is your father home? I'll give you a ride" Steve said.

"Dad should be home. Thanks Uncle Steve" Troy smiled awkwardly. He'd loved spending time with Uncle Steve and Auntie Debbie as a child but over the last two years their relationship had become strained.

"You're really all right looking after Jacob over night and all day tomorrow?" Steve asked.

"Yeah Jakie and I get along fine" Troy replied casually.

"You're a good older cousin Troy. Jacob is lucky to have you" Steve said.

"We're all family Uncle Steve. I'm happy to help out" Troy confirmed as they arrived at Troy's home.

Troy let Steve in and left him in the lounge talking to his brother while he went upstairs to pack and ring Chad.

"Hey Troy you up for Liana's party tonight?" Chad asked.

"No can do Bro. I'm babysitting Jakie tonight" Troy replied.

"Seriously! Troy cant you get out of it? This party is going to be off the hook" Chad complained.

"I don't want to get out of it. Liana's party will be the same as all her other parties. Lots of booze, drugs in the back room and backstabbing bitches making sure everyone will find out about it at school next week if you do anything embarrassing and cheerleader sluts looking to hook up with as many people as they can" Troy said tiredly. "I'd rather play with Jakie."

"What's wrong Troy you usually enjoy parties like that?" Chad asked surprised at his best friend's attitude.

Having spent so much time on the phone with Gabriella saying exactly what he really thought without having to worry about his reputation Troy answered without thinking. "I don't usually have much choice if the rest of the team's going I have to go so I may as well make the best of it."

"What do you mean you don't have a choice it's just a party?" Chad asked confused.

"Dad says it would damage my relationship with the team if I didn't party with you guys. So if I don't already have a commitment he expects me to go" Troy explained.

"I didn't know you felt that way" Chad said sadly. "Sometimes I think your father is a monster."

Troy sighed "He's not a monster. He's just so busy concentrating on what's best for the team and winning the championship and getting a scholarship that he forgets that I'm his son not just some tool he can use to get the best out of the team.

"That sucks man" Chad said sympathetically.

"Well I usually enjoy the chance to hook-up with someone new but there won't be anyone I haven't already had at Liana's" Troy said.

"Please don't let my Mom hear you say that" Chad replied. "She'll drag you down the clinic to get tested."

"She drags me down there every month or so as it is" Troy admitted glad Chad wasn't present to see his blush"

"You're kidding?" Chad exclaimed.

"I wish. Doesn't she do it to you too?" Troy asked surprised.

"Yeah but I'm her son. I didn't realise she did it to you too. I'm sorry Bro" Chad said also very glad they were having this conversation over the phone so Troy couldn't see his embarrassment.

Troy shrugged though Chad couldn't see him. "It's nice that she cares enough to do it" he said quietly.

Chad could almost hear the unspoken 'nobody else does' and felt sad for his friend. "Yeah she does" he agreed.

"Call me if you need help with the rugrat" Chad joked.

Troy laughed "I won't he said. Jakie's a great kid, we're gonna have fun."

"I don't know why you enjoy babysitting so much" Chad said. "You used to hate it when we had to look after Charlotte."

"It's different she's not little and cute. And she doesn't like me" It was true Chad's nine year old sister resented the time Chad spent with Troy and how the two of them always excluded her and said she was too young to hear about what they were doing. "I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow if Dad and Steve get back in time."

"Yeah there's at least one bright side to this Troy" Chad said.

"Yeah what's that?" Troy asked.

"If Steve takes your Dad away you get a day off training" Chad explained.

Troy laughed. "Yeah" he agreed.

He disconnected the call and grabbed his bag. "I'm ready to go" he said.

"You don't have to come over yet" Steve said. "Jacob and I could pick you up on the way back from taking Deb to the airport."

Troy laughed "You really think Aunt Deb's going to go anywhere without giving me a million last minute instructions?" he asked sceptically.

Steve Bolton sighed. "You're right let's get going so she has time to tell you everything half a dozen times"

Jack laughed "I'll pick you up at eight" he said.

"Eight? I thought you'd be leaving at first light" Troy said surprised.

"No we're going to go tonight. A friend's got a cabin I can borrow" Steve explained. "You will be okay with Jacob over night wont you"

"Of course" Troy said confidently.

Troy was right Debra had a lot of last minute instructions about bathing and bedtime and diets. He patiently listened while his Aunt fussed. "I really don't know if I should leave him for the weekend. Perhaps I should take him with me."

"Aunt Deb. We will be fine. I look after Jacob all the time. He likes me playing with him" Troy tried to reassure her.

Finally Debra and Steve were ready to leave for the airport. They'd decided it would be best for Jacob not to go so Debra said a ready farewell before she left. Unfortunately Debra was upset at the idea of not seeing her baby for three days and her emotional state upset the toddler.

"He's upset. Maybe I shouldn't leave him" Debra said.

"Deb we talked about this you can't take a baby out to a hen's party. It's better to leave him here with Troy who he knows than have to leave him with someone you don't know in Sacramento" Steve reminded her.

"But he's too little too leave for so long" Debra protested.

"He's spent the whole day with Troy before and he was fine" Steve tried to reassure her.

"But he doesn't want me to go" Debra argued.

"He'll be fine. I'll take him outside and distract him" Troy said. "Call me from the airport and you'll see."

Eventually she agreed to get in the car and they left.

True to his word Troy took Jacob outside and plonked him on the grass. He'd brought a ball out with him and they spent some time rolling it back and forth before Jacob got distracted and started to explore.

Troy followed watching affectionately as Jacob toddled around the yard looking at things making sure he was safe. He loved it when it was just the two of them without the tension between he and his Uncle and Aunt. Uncle Steve was better when it was just the three of them but Deb was rarely relaxed in his presence. They were good parents to Jacob though and he was a happy baby.

The answered is phone and spoke to his Aunt. "Yes he's happy we're outside. Do you want to talk to him?" he said.

"Yes please" Debra said.

"Jacob, talk to Mommy" Troy said holding the phone to his ear.

"Momma, Dadda" the toddler babbled.

"Yes Darling it's Mommy. Are you having fun with Troy?"

"Twoy"

Troy's face lit up and Jacob squealed with joy as Troy gently tickled him "You said my name" he exclaimed amazed.

Debra laughed. "Yes I've been showing him the family photo's. He really missed you Troy."

"I missed him too Aunt Deb" Troy answered smiling at the little boy.

Debra said she'd left dinner for them both in the fridge and Troy just had to heat it up. So when it started to get too cold for Jacob to be outside Troy brought him inside and checked it out finding a full dish of lasagne and a homemade apple pie. "Off the hook" he said spinning Jacob around "we're going to feast tonight."

Jacob laughed and leaned back trying to flop upside down for a dizzy whizz. "Not in here little man. You'll hit your head." He put his arm behind his back and held him close to his body.

Jacob whined and Troy gave in. He carried Jacob into the lounge where there was more room and tipped him upside down and holding tightly to his calves swung him gently back and forth before swinging him high in the air and catching him around the waist.

"One of these days you're going to drop him" Steve said calmly one his son was caught safely.

"I wouldn't do it if there was any risk of that" Troy argued.

"Dadda, dadda" Jacob yelled leaning towards him.

Troy walked over and handed him over smiling. "Deb got on the plane alright then?" He asked.

"Yeah, you want to eat with Jacob or wait a bit?" Steve asked.

"Surely it isn't dinner time yet" Troy exclaimed.

"I always find it's easier to feed Jacob before his bath. Deb manages to feed him without food going everywhere but I don't know how she does it" Steve replied.

"I'll wait and eat after we put him to bed. I'm not hungry yet" Troy decided.

"In that case can you feed him if I heat up his dinner?" Steve requested.

"Sure. Do you want me to put the lasagne in the oven while you spend some time with Jacob?" Troy asked his uncle.

"Thanks Troy. Just cut off enough for the two of us and heat it in the microwave"

"Is this enough for Jacob?" Troy asked dishing up about half the size he'd give his mother.

Steve shrugged "I guess so" he said doubtfully.

"I guess we'll find out. He can always have apple pie and ice-cream if he's still hungry" Troy suggested putting the bowl in the microwave and heating it.

"You're going to fill my son with sweets" he said.

"A little dessert is good for the soul even if Dad thinks it isn't good for my game" Troy said smiling as he strapped Jacob into the high chair.

"He still got you on that diet?" Steve asked pulling a face.

"Yeah I'm hoping he'll ease up for a while after the championships" Troy said sighing.

Troy put his Uncle's meal on to heat and tested Jacob's to make sure it wasn't too hot before starting to feed him.

He soon understood why his Uncle suggested feeding him before his bath. Jacob was no longer happy to be fed he wanted to feed himself. Laughing Troy held the bowl to stop him from tipping it over while Jacob delightedly shoved both hands into the lasagne and shovelled food into his mouth.

"Did you have a good holiday. I'm surprised your coach let you go skiing so soon before the big game" Steve said.

"Yeah me too. I guess trying to save his marriage is more important than Basketball even if I'm not" Troy said resignedly.

"Of course you're more important than Basketball" Steve said horrified.

"Dad doesn't act like he thinks so" Troy said dejectedly.

"What did you mean saving his marriage? Are Jack and Lucille having problems?" Steve asked concerned for his brother.

"Mom works nearly 100 hours a week. She's never home except to eat and sleep. Dad's getting fed up with it. These two weeks were supposed to be time for them, though they had to take me too. Coming home early has made things worse. Dad's been in a foul mood since we left Colorado" Troy explained.

"What about Lucille?" Steve asked.

Troy shrugged "Dunno I haven't seen her since we got back"

"It's been two days" Steve said surprised.

"Dad said she's been home at night but she's been working 18 hours a day. I don't know what made her have to fly home early but whatever it was it must be serious" Troy explained. "Maybe taking Dad away hunting with you will help."

"I'll talk to you Dad get him to calm down a bit" Steve promised.

"Uncle Steve" Troy said hesitantly. "I know I don't really have the right to ask but will you promise me you won't push Jacob like Dad does? That you'll let him be a normal teenager and choose his own extracurricular activities and eat lasagne and ice-cream and have a girlfriend if he wants one." He waited hoping his Uncle wouldn't be too upset with him but wanting to know Jacob wasn't going to end up like him.

"Is your life really that bad Troy?" Steve asked concerned. He'd been so caught up in finally having a son that he'd stopped spending quality time with his nephew. Things had become awkward and it was just easier to avoid being reminded of the situation. Looking back he realised it had been months since he'd even seen him unless he came over to babysit. He had failed the nephew that had looked up to him as a second father.

Troy didn't answer but the look on his face concerned his Uncle. "I promise Troy. I won't push my dreams on Jacob and I won't let your father do it either" he said seriously.

"Thankyou" Troy said quietly.

Steve gave his nephew a quick hug. "Troy, Jacob and I will always be your family. I'm sorry I didn't try harder to make sure your father didn't go overboard with the training. Get through the championships and I'll make him ease off."

"Thanks Uncle Steve" Troy said turning his head and blinking furiously trying not to cry.

Fortunately Jacob distracted him before he broke down completely; unfortunately it was by hitting him with handfuls of lasagne.

"Oh God Yuck Jakie" Troy exclaimed tearing off his shirt.

Jacob merely smiled at his cousin's reaction and Steve laughed. "Looks like you're volunteering to bath him seeing you need to clean up too."

"Yeah I'll bath him and then you can put him to bed while I grab a shower" Troy agreed.

"Take him in the shower with you. He loves it" Steve suggested.

"Are you sure?" Troy asked.

"Yeah just leave your boxers on if you feel self conscious" Steve reassured him. "It's much easier than leaning over the bath. Just make sure the waters nice and warm and watch that he doesn't get too cold when he's out of the spray."

Troy stripped Jacob down to his nappy and quickly stripped himself to his boxers before starting the shower. Steve was right the little boy loved it. Troy had to be careful to keep him out until the water was at a safe temperature. He picked him up a d cuddled him close as he stepped in. Jacob laughed and squealed as Troy tried to wash and hold onto the slippery wriggling child. He ended up sliding down to sit on the floor of the shower to gently wash his hair with the baby shampoo. The bathroom was cold and soon Jacob started to shiver in spite of the warmth of the water. Troy climbed out and wrapped him up shivering himself as he got the baby dried and dressed warmly.

"Uncle Steve" he called. "Can you come and get Jakie so I can get dressed?"

"You do know that Debra hates anyone calling him Jakie?" Steve said taking the now sleepy toddler.

Troy shrugged. "She'd hate any nickname I gave him."

Steve smiled sympathetically "she hates her sister calling him Jakie too" he said mildly.

Troy grinned "He seems to like it."

"He'll hate it when he's older" Steve warned. "I'll let you get dressed. Hurry if you want to read him a story."

"Okay" Troy agreed rushing to get dry and throw on his sweats.

Jacob fell asleep while Troy read to him but Troy continued to the end of the book enjoying the opportunity to cuddle him. He seemed much younger when he was sleeping. Steve said goodbye, kissing his son on the forehead. "Don't spoil him too much and try to get some sleep yourself. He gets up awfully early" he said before leaving.

"I get up at five to train every day. I think I can handle it" Troy replied. "See you tomorrow."

Once Steve had gone Troy carried the baby to bed and tucked him in careful to grab the receiver for the baby monitor.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, inlovewithHP, secretwriter11, Tiffyxoxo16, cyndll, and LaueeeCarter for your support.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

He sat back in the lounge and called Gabriella.

"Hi Troy" she answered happily. "I almost thought you weren't going to be able to ring me. I can't talk now though I'm at the table waiting for dinner to be served."

"Are you at the table with your Mom, can she hear me?" Troy asked.

"Umm yeah" Gabriella mumbled.

"Hello Ms Montez" Troy said politely.

"Hello Troy" Maria said impressed.

"Are you enjoying your holiday?" Troy asked.

"I am very much Troy. Are you enjoying your break?" Maria replied smiling. This young man was trying to make a good impression on her. He must really like Gabriella.

"It's okay. I enjoyed the snowboarding and I've had a great afternoon with Jakie" Troy said cheerfully.

"Who's Jakie?" Gabriella asked.

"I'm babysitting for My Aunt and Uncle, Jakie's 15 months old" Troy explained.

"Are you still babysitting?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah, Uncle Steve gone hunting with Dad they'll be back tomorrow, hopefully about dinner time" Troy replied.

"So your Mom's crises at work is over" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, I haven't seen her since she dropped me and Dad at home on Saturday" Troy said casually.

"You mean they've left you home alone with the baby overnight?" Maria asked horrified.

"Yeah It's no problem I look after Jakie for a couple of hours every week, he knows me well so he won't be frightened" Troy replied.

"Looking after a baby is a big responsibility" Maria said concernedly.

"It's not the first time and I can call Mrs D if he gets sick or something" Troy tried to reassure her.

"Well you sound confident and I'm glad you have a backup plan" Maria said. "I'm afraid our meals are arriving."

"Okay I'll call you later Gabriella. It was nice to kind of meet you Ms Montez" Troy said cheerfully.

"Bye Troy I'll talk to you tonight" Gabriella said.

"Nice to meet you too Troy. Good luck with the babysitting" Maria replied.

"Text me when you're ready for me to call" Troy said disconnecting the call.

Troy decided to heat his meal while he waited for Gabriella. He checked on Jakie and re-tucked the blankets over his hands before cutting himself a large serving of lasagne and rooting around in the fridge for ingredients to make himself a salad while it heated.

Troy was still eating when Gabriella text him, but he rang back straight away.

"Hey Gabriella did you and your mom have a nice dinner?" He asked still eating.

"The food was good but mom spent the whole meal grilling me about what we talk about" Gabriella replied.

"Ouch! Did I make things worse saying hello to her?" Troy worried.

"No she was impressed by your manners" Gabriella reassured.

"But not my babysitting skills" Troy added dryly.

"I couldn't look after a baby" Gabriella said. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Neither could I when he was born. You'd soon learn if you had to" Troy said confidently.

"You really enjoy looking after him?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah I love him. He's a great kid and we have a lot of fun playing. Looking after Jakie is the highlight of my week" Troy said smiling.

"Are you close to your aunt and uncle?" Gabriella asked hoping Troy had some family that really cared for him since his parents didn't seem to.

Troy sighed. "Kind of. It's complicated. We used to be close, but things got awkward when Aunt Deb got pregnant. Uncle Steve and I are starting to work things out though, I hope."

"I hope so too. How did it go with your Dad last night?" Gabriella asked.

"He was seriously pissed off. I practiced shooting until the neighbours complained about the noise and then Dad had me running suicides. I must have run nearly a hundred. I got up to run this morning and it took me longer to run three mile than it usually does to run seven" Troy said tiredly.

Gabriella sighed. "Don't let talking to me make you late for your Dad again Troy. I can wait and talk to you after you're finished with him for the night so you don't get hurt" she said.

"Don't feel guilty it isn't your fault. He's pissed off with Mom. It'll get better again when they make up" Troy said tiredly. "Tell me about your day?"

"Well I had my lesson at eleven today so I slept in and had the pancake stack for breakfast. Then I had my lesson and then spent about an hour skiing. Then after lunch I decided to try snowboarding since you said it was so great" Gabriella said ruefully.

Troy laughed at her tone. "Didn't you like it?" he asked.

"I couldn't do it" Gabriella admitted. "I spent most of my afternoon on my bum."

"Did you hurt yourself?" Troy asked worried.

"Let's just say I had an urgent need of a hot spa bath" Gabriella said laughing.

Troy pictured Gabriella in the bath and wished he could have joined her but didn't want to risk offending Gabriella by saying so. "Do I need to apologise?" he asked.

"No I should have known it wouldn't be any easier than skiing" Gabriella admitted dolefully.

The house phone rang. "I've got to answer that" Troy told Gabriella. "It's probably Aunt Deb ringing to check on Jacob. I'll call you back unless you're too tired?"

"I'd like that" Gabriella said smiling. "Bye Troy."

Troy answered the house phone "Bolton residence this is Troy" he said crisply pulling out a pen to take a message if it wasn't Aunt Debra.

"Hi Troy how did you and Jacob cope this evening" Debra asked.

"Well we had fun outside and then I made the mistake of letting him feed himself so it was lucky we had dinner before his bath and then he fell asleep while I was reading" Troy reported.

"You were a long time getting to the phone do you have company?" Debra asked.

"No Aunt Deb, I was talking on my cell phone" Troy explained.

"How long is it since you checked on Jacob?" Debra asked anxiously.

"About an hour I had to tuck him back in, but I've got the monitor beside me" Troy reported.

"Did Steven have dinner with you?" Debra asked.

"Yeah he did, he left just after Jakie fell asleep" Troy replied.

"Well go and check on Jacob now and get to bed Jacob gets up about six" Debra ordered.

"Troy laughed "that's fine I'm up before that most days to train anyway."

"You can't leave Jacob to go out and train tomorrow" Debra said shocked.

Troy chuckled, "Of course not, I can do some squats and push-ups and stuff and I'll get plenty of exercise chasing him around. Don't worry Aunt Deb I'll take good care of him."

"I know you will" Debra said, her voice softening. "Goodnight Troy"

"Night Aunt Deb" Troy responded. "Have fun with your sister."

Troy peeked into Jacobs's room and tucked his hands under the blanket again. The room was warm and the child was sleeping peacefully. Troy kissed him on the forehead and left the door ajar so he'd be sure to hear him.

He walked into the guest room and quickly prepared for bed before calling Gabriella back.

"Is the baby asleep?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah he looks like a little angel" Troy said smiling.

"You sound tired. I should let you get to bed" Gabriella said guiltily.

"I am in bed" Troy replied smiling "so if I stop answering you I don't mean to be rude but I've fallen asleep. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Please tell me you're not naked" Gabriella begged.

"No but would it seriously worry you if I was?" Troy asked amused.

"Umm. Yeah" Gabriella said blushing.

"Why? You can't see me anyway" Troy said. "I'm hundreds of miles away."

"I don't know it just does" Gabriella insisted.

"Okay note to self put pants on before you call Gabriella" Troy said.

Gabriella laughed. "Thanks Troy" she said gratefully.

"So what are you doing?" Troy asked Gabriella.

"Well I just finished getting ready for bed too. I'm sitting reading."

"Are you in bed too?" Troy asked.

"No Mom lit the fire so I'm sitting in the chair next to it" Gabriella replied.

"What are you reading" Troy asked.

"I'm reading 'Anne de las Tejas Verdes'" Gabriella said grinning.

"What?" Troy asked confused.

"It's a children's book 'Anne of Green Gables'" Gabriella explained. "It used to be my favourite when I was about ten or eleven. Just before he died my Dad bought me this copy in Spanish to help me learn the language properly. He said you can't really know a language until you can love it."

"So you can read Spanish. That's really cool" Troy said admiringly.

"I can't read it very well. I can read this book because I know it so well. I must have read it at least a hundred times" Gabriella said modestly. "Dad talked to me in Spanish all the time but since he died I've got a bit rusty.

"It's still cool" Troy said.

Gabriella giggled. "Thank you Troy" she said.

"So do you have any other special abilities I don't know about?" Troy teased.

"Um I don't know. It depends on what you call special abilities" Gabriella said nervously.

"Well I know you're a lot smarter than me, you have an amazing voice, and you used to take dance classes so you can probably dance. Do you secretly work for the CIA or something?" Troy teased.

Gabriella laughed. "No I'm just a normal high school junior" she replied.

Troy laughed "well I think you're pretty special."

"What about you? Have you got any mad skills I don't know about?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno. I'm not really great at any subject though I do okay when I've got time to study. I can play most sports at least a little. In freshman year I tried out for a heap of things and made the JV for basketball, baseball, soccer, golf and tennis. Dad had an absolute fit" Troy said laughing. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd chosen not to play Basketball" he added more seriously.

"Did you actually consider it?" Gabriella asked.

"No I love basketball and I used to love playing with Dad. I was actually looking forward to him being my coach" Troy said sighing. "I might have been better off playing a different sport though. I'm not going to be tall enough to play professionally."

"Do you want to play professional basketball?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't know. But I'm less likely to get a scholarship at 5'10'' too" Troy explained. "On the other hand I wouldn't be as good at basketball as I am without all the extra coaching, maybe I wouldn't have made it in another sport anyway."

"That's just depressing" Gabriella said. "Tell me something good? What do you want to do if you can't play professional basketball?"

"Definitely not teach or coach" Troy said immediately. "And considering the hours Mom works I don't want to own a small business either."

"So what then?" Gabriella asked.

"You're going to laugh" Troy said.

"Yeah" Gabriella said laughing already.

"I want to be either a fireman or an ambulance driver" Troy said.

"I'm not going to laugh at that" Gabriella said. "They're both very important professions. And I think you'd be good at being an ambulance officer, you have a way of helping people stay calm and feel better."

"What do you want to do after college?" Troy asked, blushing from Gabriella's compliments.

"I want to be a doctor" Gabriella said.

"Wow" Troy said.

He tried to stifle a yawn but Gabriella heard it anyway. "I'll let you get some sleep. Have fun babysitting tomorrow" she said.

"Goodnight Gabriella" Troy said sleepily.

Troy was awake before Jacob next morning so he decided it was safer to make pancakes now and heat them up later if Jacob didn't wake up in time to eat them before they got cold. Remembering the mess he'd made with dinner Troy was still shirtless and had turned up the heat in the kitchen so Jacob wouldn't need a jumper. He put on his aunt's apron to protect himself from the spitting oil laughing at the picture he must make standing in the kitchen in boxers and a frilly pink apron.

He'd just finished eating his own breakfast when Jacob woke up.

"Good morning Jakie" he said cheerfully hoping his confidence would calm the crying baby.

"Up Twoy up" Jacob demanded.

"Sure thing" Troy answered scooping him up and heading for the change table. He quickly and efficiently changed his wet nappy and carried him down to the kitchen. "Are you hungry Jakie? Would you like some pancakes?" he asked.

He strapped the squirming little boy into his high chair and handed over a plate of pancake cut up into child size pieces.

Jacob loved the pancakes and banana with syrup and made a huge sticky mess with them. "Okay little man we need to clean you up. Do you want a bath or a shower?" Troy asked cleaning his hands before carrying him back upstairs.

He plonked Jacob down into the bathroom and waited to see which way he headed seeing he couldn't answer with words. Jacob crawled towards the bath and Troy turned the water on before stripping off the wiggling body. He was better prepared this morning with all Jacob's and his own clothes in the bathroom with him. Testing the water Troy lifted him in sitting him on the nonslip mat. "Twoy in baff" Jacob said splashing him.

"You want me to get in with you?" Troy asked.

"Twoy in"

"Okay buddy" Troy agreed climbing into the bath in his boxers.

Jacob squealed and splashed, shrieking with laughter as Troy gently splashed back.

Jacob goggled and squirmed as Troy washed his body but hated being laid back in the water to rinse the syrup out of his hair. "I'm sorry little man but you put it in there" Troy said carefully washing away the stickiness.

It was too cold to play outside so Troy put some toys out in the living room and tried to get Jacob interested in the blocks. Jacob didn't have any interest in building with the blocks but he loved the crash they made and Troy's exaggerated reactions when he knocked them down.

"Outsi" Jacob said running to the door.

"Maybe later Jakie, do you want a snack?" Troy asked.

"Outsi outsi" Jacob chanted.

"It's too cold Jakie" Troy said patiently lifting Jacob onto his lap and offering him a piece of apple and a sippy cup of milk.

"Outsi Twoy" Jacob tried again when Troy lifted him out of his highchair. Troy managed to distract him with the pots and pans and he sat happily banging on a saucepan while Troy cleaned the highchair and the kitchen. They returned to the lounge and Troy tried to teach Jacob to sing nursery rhymes as he tidied the lounge. "I don't know how Aunt Deb gets everything done" he told the little boy. He scooped him up and sat him on his lap reading to him as the toddler started to droop.

Kissing him on the forehead he carried the sleepy child upstairs changed his nappy and put him to bed for his morning nap.

Troy remembered that Gabriella had admitted to spending very little time skiing some days he sent her a text to see if she were free but didn't get a reply. He sighed and decided to make himself useful by putting on a load of washing. That done he roamed around the house looking for something to do. He found Debra's copy of Pride and Prejudice and decided to see what Gabriella loved about the book. It was surprisingly interesting when read with an open mind though he still preferred books with more action like Tom Clancy.

By the time Jacob woke from his morning nap the sun had come out and Troy bundled the little boy up in his coat, hat and mittens before tucking him into Debra's jogging pram and taking off to run the four miles to the park. Troy ran quite a bit faster than Debra normally did and he wasn't a very good pram driver so it was lucky he'd buckled Jacob in properly in spite of his protests. Jacob enjoyed the wild ride and was happy to have Troy chasing him around the park.

Chad saw Troy and Jakie and waved as he walked past to the basketball courts. "Hey Troy hey Jakie you having fun little man?" He asked.

"He's nearly has hard a taskmaster as Dad" Troy said laughing as he threw the toddler into the air.

"He's definitely a Bolton" Chad said looking at the two blue eyed blondes.

"Hey Troy who's the mini me?" Jason asked.

"This is Jakie. I'm babysitting for Uncle Steve so he could take Dad hunting" Troy explained.

"So you got a whole day off training? That's great man, let's go play" he said grabbing the ball off Chad.

Troy looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "I can't just dump Jakie on the sidelines while I play basketball. He's too little" he exclaimed.

"We'll then what was the point of babysitting to get away from your old man then?" Jason asked.

Troy just rolled his eyes.

"Hey Troy. You missed a great party last night" Zeke said as he arrived.

"Yeah?" Troy asked looking at Chad.

"Same old same old" Chad replied. "Plenty of booze, Jess did a strip tease but most people were too out of it to notice."

"I heard about that. Pity nobody got pictures that girl has a fine pair of..." He was abruptly cut off by Troy's hand over his mouth.

"Don't talk like that in front of Jakie" Troy said crossly.

"Why? He's too young to understand" Zeke asked.

"He's old enough to repeat words he's heard. Aunt Debra will never let me look after him again if he learns those sort of words from me" Troy said angrily.

"Why would you want to look after him?" Jason asked.

Troy threw his hands in the air and walked away.

"That was out of line Jase. Troy loves his cousin and it helps him to have at least one family member who's happy to see him without wanting too much from him" Chad said. "Don't wait for me I don't feel like playing."

Chad ran after Troy finding him playing with Jacob in the sandpit. "It won't happen Troy. Steve and Deb need you to help them look after Jacob" he tried to reassure his friend.

"She's already told me she doesn't want me letting my friends near him. I was upset at the time but I understand now. One day he's going to be old enough to understand things and she's going to say I'm a bad role model for him" Troy said worriedly.

"Troy by the time he's old enough for you to worry about being a role model you'll be in college and you can make a new start to become the person you want to be if you don't like who you are now. Don't worry about it."

Jacob's stomach rumbled and Chad laughed "I think you need to feed him"

"Yeah" Troy agreed picking up Jacob and cleaning his hands before giving him a cheese sandwich and strapping him back into the pram. He offered Chad a sandwich.

"What no peanut butter and jelly?" Chad said.

"Do you have any idea how much mess a one year old can make with peanut butter and jelly?" Troy asked laughing.

Chad laughed "He's a cute little guy" he said. "Have a good afternoon with him Troy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah see you Chad" Troy said as he gave Jacob a piece of apple to chew on.

Jacob suddenly screwed up his face and started grunting.

"Sh... No Jakie don't do that here! I forgot to pack a nappy" Troy exclaimed quickly checking the toddler was strapped in the pram properly and taking off towards the house at a full sprint.

Jacob was grizzling by the time they reached home and Troy unstrapped him carefully and carried him straight to the change table. He gave Jacob a toy to distract him as he cleaned up the smelly baby and carefully applied nappy cream hoping he wouldn't get a rash. He redressed him and took him downstairs.

"Outsi Twoy Outsi" Jacob said looking out the back window.

"Okay Jakie I'll just get you ball" Troy said. They went out and Troy rolled the ball for the toddler to chase.

Jacob chased the ball and Troy chased him until the little boy tired and Troy carried him inside to bed for his afternoon nap.

A/N Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, xoxo1212 and SwifteForeverAndAlways for your support.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy called Gabriella again and this time she answered. "Hi Troy I thought you were babysitting today"

"Hey Gabriella. Jakie's napping, how is the snow?" Troy asked.

Gabriella groaned. "I got a new teacher today and he's a masochist."

"Does that mean you've gone up a level?" Troy asked.

"I don't think so" Gabriella replied pessimistically "more likely my teacher just got sick of me and swapped groups."

Troy laughed "you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. So have you finished skiing for the day? What are you doing?"

"Feeling at loose end I'm glad you called" Gabriella answered.

"I'm glad you were able to answer" Troy said. "What do you mean being at loose end?"

"I don't want to go back out in the cold but I feel cooped up here. I've read all the books that I brought with me and I'm trying to look through pictures of bedrooms and decide how I want to decorate my new room but nothing appeals. Part of me wants to paint the whole room black in protest of moving again but I know I'd regret it and Mom wouldn't let me change it again until we moved again. It doesn't help that normally I would have been able to get on the real estate website and take a virtual tour of my new house so I have some sort of idea what colour the floors are and what the windows are like which makes it easier to see which colours will go. I'm kicking myself for not asking about the house but I'm too stubborn to back down and ask now" Gabriella said frustrated.

Troy laughed. "You'll know soon enough" he reassured her.

"Yeah but I'll be too busy unpacking the stuff I need straight away that I won't have time to plan what I want and buy paint and stuff" Gabriella complained.

"Did you like your last room?" Troy asked.

"Yeah it was okay. Why?" Gabriella asked.

"Well that would be a form of protest wouldn't it? To make the room the same as last time's room. It'd be better than black anyway" Troy suggested.

"Yeah I'll think about it. That's a great idea Troy. Thank you" Gabriella said smiling.

"Or you could go back further and decorate the same as whichever room was your favourite" Troy suggested.

"No I think I might be too old for my Disney princess room I had when I was nine" Gabriella said.

Troy laughed. "I had superman when I was a kid" he confessed.

"What's your room look like now?" Gabriella asked.

"Like a shrine to Basketball. The walls are blue with heaps of memorabilia from the Lakers the R.. our local college team and my high school team and posters of famous point guards."

"Is that how you want it to look?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "I don't know I've never thought about it" he admitted. "Not moving around there's no real reason to redecorate."

"Sure there is if you don't like it anymore. You wouldn't have put up with keeping Superman forever" Gabriella said.

Troy laughed "No but Dad wasn't emotionally invested in superman. He's forever harping about me getting a basketball scholarship. The only reason he gives me time off training to do my homework is because the school rules say I have to maintain a C average to be on the team."

Gabriella winced. If Troy was struggling to maintain a C average he wasn't going to like it when he found out how smart she was.

"What would you be doing if I didn't answer?" Gabriella asked trying to keep the conversation away from academics.

"Reading 'Pride and prejudice'" Troy answered.

"Seriously?" Gabriella asked sceptically.

"Yeah I had nothing else to do. Jakie's asleep, the house is tidy and I've done the laundry. I found it in the bookshelf and remembered that it was your favourite so I decided to try it" Troy explained.

"Are you enjoying it?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"Yeah. I would have hated to live like that though. It's interesting but the formality would have driven me around the bend" Troy said.

Gabriella laughed. "Yes it was a very restricted life but I think that's why I love the story. Nothing much happens, it's all about the personalities and the relationships."

"Mrs Bennett is a nightmare" Troy said. "I'm glad my mother's nothing like that."

"Yes I've seen several movie adaptations and in some of them she comes across as this ridiculous hysterical woman but in one of the others her behaviour seems to make sense. Marriage is the only decent future her daughters have. They can't earn a living because ladies aren't allowed to work at all, and they cannot inherit their father's estate. If he died and none of them were married they'd be out in the street" Gabriella said.

"So she was like my dad then? Pushing her kids because she believed she was acting in their best interest?" Troy asked.

"Yeah I think so. Though I admit she wasn't the most sensible woman" Gabriella said thoughtfully.

"Parents rarely are" Troy said cynically.

Gabriella laughed "yeah I suppose they're not" she agreed. "So what do you think of Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley?"

"At first I thought Darcy had a stick up his arse but I think he's trying to protect himself from girls throwing themselves at him all the time. It would be hard to know who to trust if you had all these girls and their parents trying to force you to marry someone you hardly know" Troy said thoughtfully.

"And it was very difficult to really get to know someone under all the formal manners" Gabriella agreed. "Unless you were invited to a house party or were practically one of the family you only ever saw the other sex in public and girls were very controlled by their parents."

"We met in public. And I knew I liked you straight away" Troy said.

"Yes me too. I wanted to get to know you. But I like you more now we've spent all this time talking and being honest with each other because I feel I know you now. It's probably the opposite of Pride and Prejudice we don't know the public version of each other, only the private one" Gabriella said thoughtfully.

"Yeah" Troy agreed. "Is the public Gabriella very different?" He asked curiously.

"Umm" Gabriella hesitated.

"You don't have to tell me sorry if I pushed too far" Troy said quickly not wanting to make his new best friend uncomfortable.

"It's okay, I'm seem a lot more shy in public because I've had a lot of acquaintances change their minds about wanting to become friends as they got to know me better" Gabriella said.

"So you trust me that I'm not going to do that?" Troy asked eagerly.

"Yes I trust you" Gabriella said thinking 'there's no reason for you to stop being my friend. It doesn't matter how uncool I am when no one else knows about me.'

Troy heard the unspoken qualification. "I'm glad you trust me. I know it's only been a couple of days but I'd really miss you if you stopped being my friend. I've never been friends with a girl my age before"

"I would miss you too Troy. I haven't really had friends before" Gabriella admitted softly.

"What about when you were a kid? I remember everyone used to want to spend time with the new kid" Troy asked.

"I didn't go to school until I was eleven. We moved so often and my dad was an author so he worked from home. He used to home school me"

"So not only did you lose your dad all of a sudden you were sent to spend all day everyday with strangers when you were already hurting. No wonder you couldn't make friends" Troy said.

"It wasn't only the first school that I didn't have friends at" Gabriella said.

"But you start school expecting not to make friends. So you never really try" Troy said quietly.

Gabriella didn't answer for a moment.

"I'm sorry if I upset you" Troy said as the silence became uncomfortable.

"It's okay Troy and you're right. Mom's been telling me that for ages but I never really listened to her. I wanted to think she was making excuses because it was her fault I had no friends but it wasn't"

"Yes it was" Troy said. "If you'd stayed in the first school you would have had time to settle in and become comfortable there and then you would have been able to make friends" Troy said.

"Maybe I'm just not destined to have friends at school" Gabriella said doubtfully.

"I'm your friend Gabriella. You're a terrific friend" Troy said supportively.

"Sometimes I think my mom is glad when I don't make friends because it makes her feel less guilty when we have to move" Gabriella admitted.

That's terrible. Do you really believe that your mom doesn't care if you're unhappy?" Troy asked.

"She always nags me to spend time on my studies. I've always had a 4.0 but still she pushes me to try harder. Part of the reason I have so much trouble making friends is because of my grades" Gabriella said hoping Troy wouldn't be too intimidated.

"She wants you to be the best you can be just like my Dad. It doesn't mean they don't care about us in their own way" Troy tried to reassure her.

"Do you really believe your father cares about you?" Gabriella demanded.

Troy was silent for a moment and when he answered Gabriella could hear the doubt in his voice. "I want to believe that he does" he said miserably.

"Oh God Troy. I'm Sorry!" Gabriella exclaimed.

Troy exhaled shakily. "It's okay" he said.

"No it's not you were trying to make me feel better and I hurt you. I'm so sorry."

Troy sighed again. "My Dad does care about me, just not as much as he cares about the team winning the championship" he admitted sadly. "It's nothing I didn't already know."

"I'm still sorry I wish I was there to give you a hug, make you feel better."

There was a noise in the background. "Sounds like Jakie can give me that hug. I've got to go. Talk to you tonight" Troy said hurrying upstairs.

"Give Jakie a big hug and have fun" Gabriella said.

"Hey Jakie" Troy said as he came in and picked up the little boy. He hugged him close and felt better. He swore to himself that Jacob would never doubt that he was loved by Troy or Debra and Steve. He'd make sure of it.

"Twoy" Jacob said. "Mama?" he asked.

"Mama's having a holiday she'll be home in a couple of days. Daddy will be home tonight" Troy said reassuringly.

"Mama" Jacob said again.

"Let's check your nappy and get you a snack. Would you like some yoghurt?" Troy said trying to distract him.

Unfortunately the little boy was still looking for his mother "Mama" he called as they walked into the kitchen expecting to see her. Troy strapped him into the high chair and fed him the yoghurt. Jacob squirmed and grizzled a bit wanting to feed himself but Troy was firm. "No Jakie, I'm feeding you, I'll let you feed yourself the biscuits you can't make such a mess with them." He finished feeding him the yoghurt and gave the little boy a handful of tiny teddies to eat, grabbing an apple or himself.

"What are we going to do Jakie?" Troy asked as he cleaned him up. "Do you want a story?"

Troy sat in the lounge with Jacob on his lap and read a couple of stories before the toddler lost interest and started to fidget. "Okay buddy, what next?" he asked as he put little boy down. "Do you want to fly?" he asked.

Jacob put his arms up to be picked up and Troy lifted him above his head holding him horizontally around the chest moving slowly around the room glad for the open layout and cathedral ceiling. "Fly Jakie Fly" he called up to the giggling toddler.

"Fwy" Jacob shouted happily.

"Yes Jakie you're flying" Troy confirmed moving him about carefully.

"Fwy"

The door opened and Steve and Jack stepped in both smiling at the excited little boy. "Having fun there Jacob" Jack said.

Troy brought Jacob down to his chest as the two boys looked towards the doorway. "Daddy" Jacob screamed launching himself towards his father without fear for his safety. Luckily Troy still had a good grip on him and quickly carried him over to his father.

"Have you been a good boy for Troy?" Steven asked Jacob cuddling him tightly.

"Of course" Troy replied. "He's always good. We've had fun haven't we Jakie?"

"Did you have a good trip?" Troy asked looking at his father.

"Jack smiled. "We only got a pair of ducks" Jack said.

"I'm not plucking it" Troy stated immediately.

"Steve laughed. "I'll pluck yours if you cook mine. Debra doesn't like duck" he offered.

"Deal, do you want it roasted?" Troy accepted smiling.

"Yes please" Steve said enthusiastically. Troy checked the cupboards then approached his father who was now watching TV and babysitting while Steve plucked the ducks outside.

Troy lifted up the whinging toddler. "What's wrong Jakie?" he asked.

"He wants to go outside with his father. Steve asked me to keep him in here while he gets the duck ready to roast" Jack answered.

I need to go to the supermarket and get a few things" Troy told his father.

"Give me a list and I'll go, you can stay and watch Jacob" Jack suggested.

"It's only a few blocks. If you give me the money I can take Jakie in the pram" Troy countered stubbornly.

"I'll go and get his coat and stuff."

Troy returned and bundled the wriggling child into his coat hat and gloves. Jacob immediately pulled of the hat and Troy patiently took it off him and put it back on. "It's cold out. If you don't leave your hat on you'll have to stay home" he said carrying the baby to the front entrance and strapping him into the pram. He accepted the money and left at a swift jog. They both enjoyed the run in spite of the cold.

Troy collected the vegetables and stuffing ingredients that he needed while Jacob collected compliments and smiles from the other shoppers and they headed home. He stripped off his coat and set Jacob up playing with the plastic containers while he started peeling vegetables and preparing the stuffing and glaze for the duck. Leaving the vegetables to soak he quickly washed and stuffed the bird his uncle brought in and put it in the oven. "Dinner will be ready about eight" he said.

Steve frowned "That's too late for Jacob" he protested.

"There's enough lasagne for me to heat up for Jakie" Troy said casually.

Jack watched amused as they disagreed over the child's name. It was a fight Troy was probably destined to lose because of the limited time he spent with Jacob but still he persevered. "Why don't you call him Jacob?" he asked his son.

"Jakie deserves to know I care about him enough to give him a nickname and he seems to like it" Troy said mildly.

"Jakie will always know you care about him Troy" Steve reassured him.

"Thank you" Troy said touched.

Steve was impressed with the way Troy confidently and efficiently cooked dinner finding time to stop and feed Jacob though he called Steve to clean him up.

By the time Jacob had been bathed, read to and put to bed Steve's stomach was rumbling and Troy called them in to eat.

"Wow Troy this looks and smells fantastic, where did you learn to cook like this?" Steve asked appreciatively.

Troy shrugged "Mrs Danforth taught me the basics and how to follow a recipe. The rest just comes from practice. I do most of the cooking at home" he said modestly.

Steven looked shocked "Why do you do most of the cooking Troy?" he asked knowing that with Troy's training schedule he'd struggle to find enough time for homework and a social life let alone the cooking.

"It's cook or go hungry, Dad can't cook and Mom's almost never home in time" Troy said casually.

The interaction between his nephew and his brother worried Steve more and more as dinner progressed. Unlike the night before Troy was obviously tense and uncomfortable in their presence. Steve was appreciative but Jack took the beautifully cooked meal for granted quizzing Troy about how much training he'd got done that day.

"Jakie and I want for a run to the park and back, about eight mile all up, and I chased him around the backyard this afternoon" Troy said.

"So no actual practice, you can do some shooting when we get home tonight and we'll do some one on one training tomorrow unless you can round up the rest of the team" Jack said.

Troy sighed but didn't argue. He finished his meal and quietly got up and began cleaning the kitchen. "Don't you think you're being a bit hard on him?" Steve asked his brother.

"He's the captain he needs to lead by example, he has a very good chance of a full scholarship if he continues to work hard" Jack said simply.

"Yes thankyou coach Bolton" Steve said snidely. "It's school holidays, how many of your previous captains have you dragged out for training every day in the holidays?"

"He's my son he has a unique opportunity to benefit from one-on-one training" Jack replied not seeing the point.

"Yes 24 hour access to his coach. It's a pity he had to give up having a father for the opportunity" Steve stated sadly.

"What the hell do you mean?" Jack asked angrily.

"When was the last time you made a decision or did a single thing because it was in your son's best interest? Not the best interest of the team? Not the best interests of Troy's basketball potential. Just the best interest of Troy your son?" Steve asked.

In the kitchen Troy stopped washing dishes and moved towards the living room stopping just out of sight wanting to hear his father's answer.

"What?" Jack shouted.

"It seems to me you're so busy being Troy's coach that you've forgotten that there's more to being a father" Steve said trying to stay calm.

"You're questioning how I treat Troy?" Jack shouted again.

"I did not hear you say a single thing to Troy tonight that wasn't something I would have expected our coach in High School to say to us" Steve said.

Jack just glared at his brother.

In the kitchen Troy leaned against the wall with tears in his eyes. He was kind of grateful his uncle had at least seen the problem and tried to help but he was also afraid he might have made things worse. He heard someone push their chair back and darted back to the sink and was hard at work scrubbing the baking trays by the time his father entered the kitchen.

"Grab your things Troy. It's time to go" Jack said gruffly.

"Give me another ten minutes to finish cleaning up" Troy replied not turning around.

"Troy.." Jack began.

"If you're in a hurry you could clear the table or dry the dishes" Troy interrupted grumpily continuing his work.

Jack huffed as Steve came in with the plates from the table and loaded them into the dishwasher before picking up the tea towel. "I can finish here Troy. You cooked such a marvellous meal it isn't fair that you do all the clean up as well."

"Thanks Uncle Steve. I'll get my stuff" Troy smiled at his uncle and headed upstairs. His bag was pretty much already packed so he checked he hadn't forgotten anything and carried it out into the hall. Putting down his bag he snuck quietly into Jacob's room and kissed the sleeping boy on the forehead. "Bye Jakie, I'll see you soon. I love you" he said softly.

"I'm ready" he said as he walked back downstairs aware he was interrupting another argument.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, LaueeeCarter, fishing, Mimiash2012, Jan14, Jhutch112, and Nightlydusk for your support.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

The ride home was completely and uncomfortably silent and Troy changed into training gear and went out to practice without being reminded, practicing until the neighbour came out to complain.

"You're out here on your own?" Alistair McElroy asked surprised and surprisingly calmly given how he was yelling as he entered the yard.

"I'm sure Dad is listening in the house. He's in a foul mood again" Troy said looking up at the elderly man politely.

"Oh lad I'd hoped his hunting trip would help" Alistair said sadly.

"It might have done if he and Uncle Steve hadn't argued" Troy said tiredly.

"Well go on in and tell him I've complained" Alistair said shooing him towards the house.

"Thanks Mr McElroy" Troy said smiling.

He wiped the smile off his face and headed inside hoping to get to his room without running into his father. He glanced at the clock and sighed 11.15, too late to ring Gabriella hopefully she would forgive him for not calling when he said he would again. He sent a text to her just in case and got no reply so he threw himself on the bed and tried to sleep.

Troy had an unexpected visitor late that night. She knocked on his window and he got up to let her in. This was the only girl other than Gabriella that he could honestly call a friend though he saw her more as a big sister. She was three years older than him and they'd been neighbours until about four years ago when her mother had had to sell the house and move to a cheaper neighbourhood after her father had left them.

"Hey Alyssa. What's up" Troy asked a little concerned that his friend had turned up at midnight without calling first.

"Hey Troy" Alyssa said dispiritedly throwing herself down onto Troy's bed.

"What's up?" Troy said watching her carefully.

"Jeremy and I broke up" Alyssa said miserably.

Troy sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. "What happened?" Troy asked surprised. He and Alyssa had met up just before the Boltons went on vacation to exchange Christmas presents and Alyssa had spoken very enthusiastically about how well her new relationship with Jeremy was going."

"I don't know he came over this evening and said he thought we shouldn't see each other anymore, that he was sorry but he didn't feel that way about me any longer" Alyssa said starting to cry. "We had sex for the first time a week ago. I really thought he was special but maybe just wasn't into it as much as I was."

"Or maybe he's one of those guys who love the challenge and lose interest once they've got what they want" Troy suggested cynically.

"How do you know?" Alyssa wailed.

"Lyss you're smoking hot in bed. I should know. Believe me you didn't do anything wrong" Troy said seriously. "Maybe something happened when he was home for Christmas."

Alyssa just cried harder and Troy wrapped her in his arms tighter and leaned back on the headboard offering silent support. The cheerleaders would have been astounded at his empathy, normally if they cried he just walked away or pushed them out the door. Of course that was mostly because most of the time they were using tears to try to manipulate him.

Eventually she cried herself to sleep and Troy scooted down the bed and tried to sleep as well.

-o0o-

Gabriella listlessly got up for her last day at the ski resort. She had a final lesson at ten though it hardly seemed worth it when she didn't know when she'd next have the opportunity to ski unless this was a skill her mother wanted her to have because they were moving to the mountains somewhere. She hoped they wouldn't be she'd had enough of the cold. She dressed in her favourite ski outfit and went out to warm up before her lesson. Finishing her lesson she knew her mother would be disappointed that she didn't stay out and enjoy the slopes but she didn't enjoy skiing and she'd had enough trying to pretend she did. She handed her skis in at the hire shop and went for a walk away from the crowds enjoying the peace. She didn't go far into the trees not wanting to get lost and found a small clearing with a fallen tree to sit on. She took out her phone and text Troy hoping he was available to talk but got no reply. She sat enjoying the peace of the forest until she started to feel cold and hungry, then returned to the resort for lunch.

-o0o-

Alyssa woke the next morning with Troy spooned up behind her. His hand was gently massaging her breast through her clothes and she could feel his erection pressed into her bottom. From his breathing she could tell he was still asleep. She tried to move away but he tightened his arms around her.

"Troy wake up, I have to go" she said quietly knowing her mother would worry if she wasn't home before she got home from work.

"Hmm Gabriella" Troy moaned in his sleep thrusting against her a little.

"No Troy it's Alyssa. Wake Up" Alyssa said wrenching herself out of his arms, amused. She wanted to ask who Gabriella was but a quick glance at the clock persuaded her it would have to wait.

"Huh Alyssa?" Troy asked sleepily

"Good morning Troy" Alyssa said. "Sorry for waking you but I have to get home. Mom doesn't know where I am I don't want her to worry."

"Okay Lyss I'll see you later" Troy said.

"Thanks for last night Troy" Alyssa said hugging him. "It really helped not to be alone."

"It's fine Lyss I'll call you later today" Troy promised preparing to roll over and go back to sleep.

-o0o-

Maria was really pleased when she returned for lunch and found Gabriella still out. She felt guilty that Gabriella had obviously not enjoyed the skiing holiday like she had and had urged her daughter to persevere hoping she would come to love skiing as she gained some skill and confidence. She sat in the front foyer waiting to have lunch with Gabriella and was surprised to see her walking up from the direction of the more difficult runs.

"Hi Gabriella. Have you been trying something more challenging?" she asked cheerfully.

"No I handed my skis in about an hour ago and I've been for a walk. It's really pretty in the trees" Gabriella said smiling.

"Have you been talking to that boy again?" Maria asked.

"Not today, he must be busy" Gabriella said casually.

Maria frowned, "you seem awfully attached" she said concerned.

"Troy's nice, you said yourself he had lovely manners" Gabriella said.

"Yes he did" Maria allowed "But you'd rather sit in a hotel room and talk to him than go out and meet people I'm worried about the effect this friendship has on you."

"I didn't meet anyone else worth talking to the first week we were here before I met him either" Gabriella said crossly. "If I didn't have Troy to talk to you would be the only person I'd talked to for the whole holiday." Gabriella got up and left her lunch half finished as she walked away. She went to her room and started to throw her things into her suitcase.

Gabriella got her computer out and started thinking about what colours she wanted her new room to be, looking on line for decorating ideas. She considered Troy's idea of trying to decorate her room the same as last time but realised that she didn't love the colour scheme and that it wouldn't work unless her new room also had dark carpet. Her mother was always quite indulgent when it came to allowing Gabriella to redecorate to stamp her own personality on her room in the hope it would make her feel at home a little quicker so she saved several different pictures to consider once she saw what the windows and flooring looked like. She considered leaving another text message to tell Troy she was available but worried that she'd seem desperate particularly after he hadn't called the night before when he said he would. She hoped he hadn't lost interest. Despite Troy's declarations that their friendship meant as much to him as it did to her, her lack of self confidence when it came to personal relationships made her fear that one day he would wake up and decide their long distance relationship wasn't worth the effort.

-o0o-

Troy woke about ten surprised his dad hadn't got him up to run. He thought about that and paled realising that it was possible his father had come in to wake him up and seen Alyssa. He sighed knowing hiding in his room would only make things worse and went into the kitchen for breakfast. He groaned internally when he saw Jack sitting at the table reading the paper obviously waiting for him and braced himself for another lecture and more extra training..

"Morning" Troy said.

"Good morning Troy, has your guest left already?" Jack asked.

"Yeah she had to get home" Troy answered trying t downplay the situation.

"Troy! You know I put up with your lifestyle but you can't bring your whores back here. What if your mother had gone in and found you?" Jack exclaimed sternly.

"Then she would have woken me up and at least I might see her once this week" Troy shot back angrily.

Jack sighed remembering the lecture Steve had given him last night. It seemed they'd both let Troy down if he was acting up to the point of bringing his fuck buddies into the house in the hope of getting into enough trouble his mother would come home to deal with it. "Troy you know the rules. No sex in the house. I should ground you for the next week. Bring me your phone and laptop."

"Dad I didn't have sex in the house. It was Alyssa. She and Jeremy broke up and she wanted someone to talk to. She just showed up crying in the middle of the night. She cried herself to sleep. I couldn't send her away" Troy protested. "Punish me if you must but please don't take my phone."

Jack sighed. "Okay Troy I won't ground you but you will clean out the garage this morning after your run."

Troy nodded "Thanks Dad." Obviously Steve's argument with his dad had done some good if his father wasn't punishing him with extra training. "I'm starving so if it's alright with you I'll eat first then do the house before my run."

He helped himself to cereal and toast, then caught up on the washing and vacuumed the downstairs area of the house before heading out to run.

-o0o-

Alyssa called Troy at lunchtime "Hey Troy thanks again for letting me unload on you last night" she said sheepishly.

"You're welcome" Troy said smiling "but you might want to avoid my Mom and Dad for a while. Unfortunately Dad heard you leave this morning." He lied not wanting to embarrass her by saying his father had caught them in bed.

"Did they know it was me?" Alyssa asked.

"Well they didn't see who it was but Dad was going off at me for bringing one of my sluts home, threatening to tell Mom and ground me for a week including taking away my phone and computer, so I had to tell him why you came over. I'm sorry but I had to tell him it was you. I explained to him we didn't have sex, that you'd cried yourself to sleep and I didn't have the heart to wake you" Troy answered.

"Did he believe you?" Alyssa asked.

Troy sighed "Yes but he's still angry."

"He's worried I'll distract you from basketball?" Alyssa said.

"Yeah he knows that we're much too good friends for you to ever be a fuck buddy like the cheerleaders are. If we had a regular arrangement he's afraid we'd end up in a real relationship. And relationships take too much time and energy away from training" Troy said tiredly.

"He's wrong Troy we don't have those sort of feelings for each other" Alyssa said hoping that Troy agreed with her.

"Yeah I love you like a sister Lyss, but I don't want to go out with you" Troy agreed easily.

"Yes I kind of got that impression this morning when you were moaning the name Gabriella" Alyssa said snarkily. "Care to tell your 'sister' about her?"

"I met her at a party on New Year's Eve. We were forced to sing Karaoke together" Troy said glad that his friend couldn't see his goofy smile at the memory.

"She must really be something to have Troy Bolton reacting like this after just one night" Alyssa commented teasingly.

"We've been talking on the phone everyday" Troy said. "I've never met anyone quite like her"

"Where does she live?" Alyssa asked.

Troy laughed, "I have no idea" he said "she promised to tell me that this weekend."

"So for all you know she lives 1,000 miles from here and you'll never see her again?" Alyssa asked quietly.

"Yeah" Troy sighed dejectedly.

"You've got it bad baby brother" Alyssa said sympathetically.

"Yeah and the irony is she's the type of girl who wouldn't even talk to me if she went to East High" Troy said running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"So what are you going to do?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"Well Dad can stop me from having a girlfriend at East High but he can't stop a relationship he doesn't know about. And a phone relationship is better than none at all" Troy said philosophically.

"So Troy who has sex with half a dozen different girls each week will have a totally platonic girlfriend that means more to him than all the other girls put together" Alyssa said laughing.

"She already does" Troy replied.

"Are you going to keep on with the fuck buddies?" Alyssa asked curiously.

Troy shrugged and sighed "I don't know. I was home last night because I didn't feel like going out and hooking up. I haven't had sex since before we went away for Christmas and the last couple of days I mostly haven't missed it. On the other hand I doubt I could give it up entirely without Dad wondering why. Not to mention the trouble it could cause with cheerleaders and the team if I start turning them down and not hooking up at parties when everyone else is."

"Are you going to tell Gabriella about them?" Alyssa asked.

"The team yes I already told her some stuff about them, the sluts probably not for a while. I don't want to lie to her. I won't make any sort of commitment to her without telling her but I can't yet. If I told her now she'd never speak to me again. Hopefully I can build a real friendship first" Troy said optimistically.

"It'd have to be a hell of a friendship to survive revealing a secret like that" Alyssa commented.

"Well I've already told her that there is something I don't want to tell her until we get to know each other better. Something that I'm afraid that she won't like" Troy admitted sadly. "I hope that would be enough for her to at least consider forgiving me."

"I hope it works out for you Troy" Alyssa said gently.

"Thanks Lyss" Troy said gratefully. "Are you okay?"

"Well I'm still upset but I think I will be okay. I called some friends and they'll be here soon to take me for some retail therapy" Alyssa answered.

"Buy yourself a killer dress to make him see what he's missing and attract a new victim?" Troy suggested.

"That's the plan" Alyssa agreed with a smile in her voice. "I've got to go, my friends are here."

"Well have fun" Troy said cheerfully. "Call me if you need me or just climb in the window again tonight."

"I'd better not or your Dad might follow through and ground you. Then what would happen to your friendship with Gabriella?" Alyssa asked smiling.

"Yeah" Troy agreed, "But ring me if you need me, anytime"

"Thanks Little brother" Alyssa said smiling. It was a real pity Troy was too young for her. He needed a real woman in his life instead of just the cheerleaders. She hoped Gabriella could be that for him.

Troy sighed as he put his phone down and went back out to finish cleaning the garage.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, old voldys gone moldy, LaueeeCarter, stordec23, FanficFemale, keptinkirk and trinn14 for your support.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy checked his phone as he got out of the shower and remembering his promise quickly pulled on some clothes so he could ring Gabriella.

Gabriella was in the spa trying to relax and not worry about why Troy hadn't rung when her phone rang. Checking the caller ID and seeing Troy's face she hurriedly answered. "Hi Troy can I call you back in five minutes"

"Sure Gabriella, are you okay?"

"Umm yeah I just need to do something before I can sit and talk" she said hanging up before he could reply. She hurriedly got out of the spa and dried herself off pulling on a tracksuit before ringing Troy.

"Hey" he said. "What's up?"

Gabriella blushed. "I was in the spa" she mumbled.

"So you answered the phone naked but I can't call you when I'm naked" Troy said amused.

"I was so relieved you rang I wanted to let you know I could talk to you. If I hadn't answered you'd have made other plans and not been able to talk" Gabriella said.

"Well I'm really glad you answered" Troy said letting it drop he could always tease her about it another day. "I'm sorry I couldn't ring last night Dad had me out training until after 11."

"His hunting trip didn't help?" Gabriella asked sighing.

"It might have done if he and Uncle Steve didn't get into an argument last night" Troy admitted sighing too.

"That's too bad. Did you have a good afternoon with Jakie?" Gabriella asked trying to turn his mind to happier things and remembering how happy he'd sounded the day before.

"Yeah He's a great little boy" Troy said enthusiastically.

Gabriella could see the smile in his voice. "You two are really close" she commented.

"I wish I could spend more time with him. I look after him at least once every week. He loves to spend time with me. There's no pressure we just have fun" Troy rambled.

"He loves you unconditionally" Gabriella said smiling.

Troy thought for a moment "Yeah that's it" he agreed.

Gabriella was glad Troy had someone that loved him like that though didn't say anything for fear of hurting him again. "What have you done today?" she asked instead.

"Run, trained, laundry, cleaned downstairs and cleaned out the garage" Troy said.

"Sounds like you need a house elf" Gabriella teased.

"Yeah, but the garage was punishment though for upsetting Dad again this morning."

"Do I want to know what you did?" Gabriella asked giving him a choice whether to tell her.

"No" Troy said grinning. "I'm just glad he didn't ground me and take my phone away like he originally threatened before I explained."

"Thank goodness he didn't" Gabriella exclaimed.

"What did you do today?" Troy asked.

"Well I had my last lesson then I took my skis back to the hire shop and went for a walk this morning. This afternoon I looked at designs for my new room and then took a bath. I've run out of stuff to read."

"So you've decided against redoing your old room?" Troy asked.

"No it's still an option depending on what the room looks like but I didn't really love it. And it won't work if the floor and windows aren't dark so I've been looking for ideas that work with light coloured floors and white painted windows" Gabriella explained. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Blues and Greens but my team colours are red and white so I wear a lot of that too" Troy said.

"Well your room is blue, I found a teal green room that I liked" Gabriella said thoughtfully. "I have bedding that would go with it too."

"I wish I could come and help you paint" Troy said wistfully

"Careful! Maybe we'll be somewhere close enough for me to hold you to that" Gabriella teased.

Troy laughed "I'd gladly drive 100 mile to come and help you paint" he promised. "It would be so good to see you again."

"It would but in a country that's nearly 4 million square mile there's less than a one in a hundred chance I'll live within 100 miles of you" Gabriella pointed out.

Troy sighed. "That bad huh" he said dejectedly.

"Well not quite, there aren't many cities big enough for Mom to be transferred to in Alaska, besides I think she knows I'd never forgive her."

"Yeah I don't live in Alaska either" Troy said.

"Well that's good. I don't know that I could muster much enthusiasm for moving to Alaska even if you lived around the corner" Gabriella said laughing. "But I kind of figured you wouldn't have come to Breckenridge for a skiing holiday if you lived in Alaska."

Troy laughed. "It looks like an awesome place to visit though" he said.

"I can see how it might appeal to you" Gabriella said diplomatically.

Troy laughed again. "Don't worry if we can get our mom's to take the same week off I won't ask you to ask to go to Alaska."

"I think that idea might be wishful thinking too Troy" Gabriella said pessimistically.

"Have you spent all day thinking negative thoughts?" Troy asked.

"I was feeling good this morning after my walk but Mom and I had a bit of a disagreement at lunch and I've felt out of sorts all afternoon" Gabriella confirmed.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" Troy asked.

"I don't know" Gabriella replied.

"I know how about we finish that game of twenty questions" Troy suggested.

"Okay, same rules?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah no asking something you're not willing to answer and you can refuse to answer but not lie" Troy agreed. "You start."

"What's your favourite subject at school?" Gabriella asked.

"Until a couple of years ago it was definitely PE but now probably 'health and human development' because I like the teacher" Troy replied. "You?"

"I like maths, physics and chemistry" Gabriella revealed cringing, regretting having brought up the topic.

"Wow you did tell me you were smart" Troy said agreeably. "Or is it because those subject's syllabuses don't change so much between schools?" he asked perceptively.

"You're right they don't. It seems every time I change schools they're in the middle of studying a novel I haven't read and a period in history I haven't studied" she said exasperatedly.

Troy chuckled "I couldn't begin to cope with that" he said sympathetically. "Do you have a favourite school?"

"Yeah actually. I went to Granby High School in Norfolk. It's right near a naval base so it had a lot of kids of naval officers that get moved around every year or so without warning. I was able to make friends because they understood what it was like to live in a family where only one parent is around a lot of the time and to move constantly. My friends there helped me learn to deal with moving better and starting a new school. I still write to a couple of them occasionally. Samantha's in Japan this year and Chelsea has just moved back to Norfolk after two years in Germany.

"Isn't Norfolk too small a town for your Mom to be transferred to?" Troy asked surprised.

"Normally yes, but it's a Navy town so there's a lot of businesses involved with various support services for the Navy" Gabriella explained.

"Okay it's your turn to ask a question?" Troy said.

"How do you think your life would be different if you were born a girl?" Gabriella asked.

Troy laughed "That's one hell of a question" he said as he thought it over. "My Dad's a real chauvinist when it comes to sports. I don't know whether he'd have pushed me into basketball the same as he did or cheerleading or not cared what extracurricular activities I chose. Mom never expressed regret that I wasn't a girl so I doubt things would change there. I can't imagine how school would be different without my team. Do you think things would be different if you were born a boy?"

Gabriella laughed "I have no idea. My Mom's a real feminist when it comes to equal opportunities but I don't think it would have made much difference. Being a freaky genius boy would probably be harder than a freaky genius girl. I've never physically been bullied. And stop stealing my questions, think of your own" she scolded laughing again.

"Okay" Troy laughed pleased that Gabriella was obviously feeling better. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"I'm not sure. I believe most ghost stories are fake but there are things that no one can explain. I've lived in a lot of places and none of them have been haunted. What do you look for in a girlfriend?"

"Not allowed to have one" Troy said dismissively. "I think I'd want someone that can actually talk about things. Definitely not a cheerleader."

"No specific physical characteristics?" Gabriella asked.

Troy immediately pictured Gabriella in his mind. "Are you asking am I a breast man or an arse man?" he asked amused.

"Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed scandalised.

Troy thought about it properly "I wouldn't like her to be as tall as me. Maybe five foot six or less. Not a size zero I want to hug a girl not a skeleton. Actually I'd have to say a nice pair of legs turns me on more than a huge rack."

"Troy!"

"Well you did ask. The rules say I have to be honest."

"Why not someone tall?"

"It reminds me that I'm not really tall enough to play professional ball. No matter how hard Dad pushes my training he can't make me grow another foot" Troy explained. "Tall girls look really hot but I don't like the way they make me feel when I'm standing beside them."

"Okay you're turn" Gabriella reminded him.

"How many kids do you want?" Troy asked.

"Definitely not one, maybe two or three fairly close in age" Gabriella replied. "If you had to move, where would you like to move to?"

"Somewhere near the beach where I could surf, or failing that somewhere I could go skiing regularly. Or somewhere near you" Troy replied. "Tell me about your family. Do you have Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and cousins?"

"My Mom's parent's moved back to Spain to look after my great grandparents three years ago, my Dad's mother is dead and we haven't heard from his father since Dad's funeral. My mom and Dad were both only children so it's just me and Mom" Gabriella replied. "This isn't fair, since I banned you from repeating my questions you've asked several that I'd like you to answer too"

Troy laughed. "Dad's parents are both alive, they retired to Florida five years ago, he has one brother my Uncle Steve who lives about ten minutes drive from here. Mom is an only child and her parents are also both alive her father lives in Santa Fe and her mother here in Albuquerque. The problem is they're too much like my Mom both workaholics. Her father travelled constantly for work when I was younger and still does quite a bit. Her Mom still works about 60 hours a week. She and Mom don't get along very well. I don't see much of them. I definitely want more than one child and like you I'd like them to be close in age. Three or four sounds fine to me but it's obviously something I'll have to negotiate with my wife seeing she has to carry them. I've never met a ghost" he said.

Gabriella laughed and returned the favour. "I would want a boyfriend I could talk to, he needs to be intelligent enough to carry on a decent conversation about something other than sports but he doesn't need to be a straight A student. I want a gentleman who'd respect the fact I don't want to have sex on the first couple of dates or maybe even the first couple of months and is prepared to wait until I feel ready. Looks aren't that important but personal hygiene is, and like you I wouldn't want anyone too thin or too flabby, they don't need to look like a weightlifter but I want to feel some firmness in their muscles when they hold me. Someone taller than me of course even when I'm wearing heels but not so tall I couldn't reach up and kiss. Someone whose arms make me feel safe." She hoped Troy didn't realise she was basically describing him.

Troy heard a noise in the background and Gabriella groaned "I've got to go Mom's banging on the door for me to come to dinner."

"Okay Gabriella have a good last night at Breckenridge. I won't be able to call you tonight, Chad's threatened to come and drag me out if I don't come willingly" Troy replied.

"Don't you want to go?" Gabriella asked.

"Not particularly, it's just another party held by the cheerleaders, I'll go, get drunk and probably hook up with someone I wouldn't even want to talk to when I'm sober. It'll be kinda fun but I'd rather spend the evening talking to you" Troy said bluntly.

"Have a good time. I'll talk to you tomorrow" Gabriella replied hanging up to quickly change for dinner.

Troy wondered if he should have been a little less honest about the party. He hoped Gabriella hadn't been offended.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, ceciliaa93, stordec23, Siobhan, LaueeeCarter, persiangal, KpodAvery, Lyra999, MzKaylaE and TheOnceAnonymous14 for your support.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy arrived at Kayla's party more than fashionably late. Most people were well on the way to drunk and he could smell marijuana outside on the deck. Troy was tempted to go hang out out there to see how his father would react to him coming home smelling like he'd spent the night smoking pot. 'He'd probably be upset because it's bad for my lungs and might affect my game' Troy thought cynically.

Liana had latched on to him as soon as he walked through the door. "Why didn't you come to my party yesterday?" she demanded.

Biting back the reply he would like to give her he said. "I had to babysit my nephew. My Aunt was out of town and my uncle had gone hunting with Dad."

"But that's the reason you didn't come last time too" Liana whinged. "You could have come after."

"My aunt and uncle were away. I had him all night" Troy replied trying to be patient.

"Well you're here now, let's dance" she said dragging him into the lounge where there were a few couples dancing.

"I need a drink first" he said trying to excuse himself.

Troy got himself a beer from the laundry trough and seeing his friends down in the yard mucking about playing ball with the dog headed out to join them.

"Hey Troy. We were beginning to think you weren't going to make it" Chad said slapping him on the shoulder.

"Dad and Steve didn't get back til late" Troy replied. "Who's the dog?"

"Liana" Chad murmured so only Troy would hear him.

"Rufus" Jason said. "He belongs to Kayla's little brother. I think he's been feeling a bit lonely with the kid away."

Troy leant down and patted the dog. "This party is no place for a good dog like you" he said grabbing the ball and throwing it. He was enjoying himself until Liana came back.

"Troy you promised to dance with me" she complained. "Now you smell of filthy dog" she added giving the dog a disgusted look.

"No I didn't I'm not drunk enough to dance. Maybe later Liana"

The boys laughed. "Get the man another drink" Jason suggested.

"He can come with me and get his own drink and we can find somewhere to have some fun" Liana said taking his arm and pulling him away.

Liana took him into the kitchen where there was a tray of pink jello shots on the bench. Troy picked up an handful and quickly threw them down feeling a little light headed after the fourth or fifth, they were stronger than he'd expected. Feeling oddly like he was betraying Gabriella though he had told her about the party he allowed Liana to drag him off to look for a private place. The bedrooms were already taken and Troy refused to use the upstairs bathroom because the toilet was in there and it wasn't fair to the other guests.

"We could use your car?" Liana suggested.

"I walked over" Troy replied not really caring whether they found a place Liana was happy with or not.

"Well what about the garage?" Liana asked.

Troy shrugged and they found themselves alone on an old couch in the garage. Liana kissed him eagerly seeming not to notice Troy's lack of enthusiasm. He grabbed her breasts not at all gently and she moaned as if it felt great. "Be careful of my dress, it's new" she said.

"Take it off then" Troy said casually.

Liana stood and turned her back "Will you undo the zipper?" she asked in what she thought was a sexy voice.

Troy rolled his eyes and unzipped the dress undoing her bra as he came to it as well to hurry up the whole procedure.

"No panties?" he asked unsurprised as she lifted the dress over her head and laid it carefully over the back of the couch. "You really are a slut tonight."

Liana frowned upset with the comment but then decided Troy meant it as a compliment (he didn't). She straddled his lap and pulled off his shirt pressing her breasts against his chest as she kissed him.

She unbuttoned his trousers and Troy lifted his hips to allow her to work them off his hips. "Suck me" he demanded. Liana grinned and grabbed the spare cushion to protect her knees from the concrete. She freed his shaft from his boxers and went to work. Troy let out an appreciative moan, Liana enjoyed doing this and she was truly gifted at it as she should be with the amount of practice she had. She'd had her tongue pierced about a month ago and Troy hadn't experienced the difference it made before tonight though Chad had told him about how great it felt. "Oh Wow" he moaned trying to hold himself back and prolong the experience. "I'm gonna..." he warned erupting down her throat.

Liana swallowed all he had to offer and sucked him gently back to hardness before moving back up to straddle him. "Hang on a minute" Troy said pulling a condom out of his pocket and rolling it in to place.

Liana grinned as she sank down on him bouncing enthusiastically. Troy sucked on her neck giving her a rather large hickie while she was distracted to keep his mouth busy so he didn't accidentally moan the wrong name. He used one hand to pinch her nipple while the other fingered her clit to ensure he didn't embarrass himself by coming before she did. She collapsed on him as he let go and finished inside her pushing her off to sprawl on the couch so he could remove the condom safely. Cleaning himself up he rebuttoned his jeans and pulled his shirt back on. "Thanks Liana" he said to the now sleeping cheerleader before throwing her dress across her to cover her naked body before walking away.

Troy roamed back into the kitchen and helped himself to another handful of pink jello shots and moved on looking for his friends.

"How'd it go with Liana?" Chad asked as they met up again later.

"Rufus was better company" Troy replied dryly.

Chad laughed but realised Troy was telling the truth. "She didn't suck you off?" he asked surprised.

Troy shrugged "Of course she did. Why else would I bother with the bitch."

"That's harsh Troy" Zeke said as he walked up with another tray of jello shots.

"Tell me when was the last time you hear her say anything worth hearing that wasn't a nasty comment about someone else" Troy replied helping himself to the tray.

"So tell me what did you think of the new accessory?" Chad asked.

"Oh Man that piercings something else. It felt fucking fantastic" Troy raved.

"Oh yeah totally worth it" Zeke added.

"They should make those piercing part of the cheerleader's uniform" Jason suggested.

"Yeah" Chad agreed.

Troy laughed "Dad and the other teachers won't go for it but I think with a few well timed comments we could convince some of the others to get one" he suggested.

"Who do you think would?" Zeke asked.

"Jess and maybe Breanna might consider it" Troy replied thoughtfully. "Emily too if she were drunk but I think they have to be professionally done and they wouldn't do it if she wasn't sober. I wouldn't let someone put a hole in my tongue without anaesthetic."

"Breanna gives lousy head, a piercing would be a weapon in that mouth" Chad said shuddering which made the others laugh.

"She's not that bad" Jason protested surprised.

"Just because she hasn't bitten you yet" Chad retorted.

"She really isn't that bad when she's sober if she doesn't get distracted" Troy said. "I wouldn't let her blow me when she's been drinking though."

Zeke laughed "she's hopeless Troy, great fuck though" he said.

"Liana's a great fuck" Jason said.

"She's okay I think Emily's the best drunk fuck" Chad suggested.

"No definitely Jess is the best drunk" Troy argued.

"That's because you can talk her into anything if she's drunk enough. I heard she let two guys double her over the summer but I can't get anyone willing to say who the guys were" Zeke said.

"Don't look at me. The only threesome I'm interested in is me and two smoking hot babes" Chad laughed.

"Threesomes are overrated" Troy put in. "It's a lot of work to keep two girls satisfied."

"Whoo hoo Troy" Jason cheered.

"When and who?" Chad asked.

"Liana and Jess a couple of months ago after a bad training session with Dad" Troy replied.

"At school? In the gym?" Chad asked shocked. "Troy if your old man was already pissed with you that would be..."

"I'm not suicidal" Troy protested. "Liana took me to Jess' place because her parents were home and Jess' were away, it was a Friday and she'd already had some drinks so she decided to join in. It's a bit like 69ing. It can be great but most of the time it's easier just to enjoy being blown" Troy explained. "I'd only do it again if the two girls were actually into each other as well. That would be hot."

"Yeah" the others agreed with glazed eyes as they pictured two hot girls naked having sex with each other.

They were interrupted by Jess Emily and Melissa. "We're bored" Melissa said. "Wanna play a game?"

"Sure what?" Chad said as the others shrugged and nodded their agreement.

"I found a bottle of tequila. We could do body shots" Melissa said.

"Or we could play rainbow" Jess suggested.

"I think I'm too drunk for rainbow" Zeke protested.

"Yeah maybe ask us a little earlier next party" Jason agreed.

"We could play 'I never'" Chad suggested.

Troy shuddered Chad knew him too well for this the last time they played he nearly got alcohol poisoning.

"Truth or Dare" Jason suggested.

"What about Freeze" Emily suggested.

"Yeah that could be fun" and relatively safe Troy agreed.

They headed inside. "What's the forfeit?" Chad asked.

"You have to take a shot of tequila or take off an item of clothing" Jess suggested.

"Okay" they agreed.

Melissa commandeered the stereo and explained the game. She put the music on and everybody danced.

As the evening went on the game got harder to call. Troy chose to take of his shoes, socks and shirt before he had more to drink which seemed to be a wise decision as the night went on. Chad and Jason chose to drink each time and eventually ended up passed out still fully dressed.

Jess happily stripped, Liana woke from her nap and rejoined them already naked and tried to drape herself over Troy. The other girls passed out mostly still in their underwear.

Troy's phone alarm woke him at five and he carefully extracted himself from the naked Liana and semi naked Emily, wondering how he'd got into such a situation. Once he was out Emily fell over on top of Liana. He thought about photographing them all but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble it might cause. On second thoughts blackmail material against Liana might come in useful someday. Carefully lining up the camera he could show that Liana was naked and Emily was topless with her face nestled between Liana's breastsand her naked breasts pressed into Liana's stomach. Jess was also sprawled naked over Jason so Troy took a photo of them too.

He helped himself to water from the tap, hunted down the rest of his clothes and walked out the door.

Troy walked home, helped himself to headache medication and a Berocca and went to bed. His father came in to check on him.

"You're not going to run this morning?" He asked.

"I'd throw up" Troy protested.

"Good party?" Jack asked.

"The usual" Troy replied tiredly.

"How much did you drink?" Jack asked.

Troy shrugged "I don't even know. Breanna made jello shots and then we played freeze at the end of the night. I didn't pass out or lose my pants. I have a bit of a headache but mostly I just want some more sleep."

"I'll leave you to it. Did you finish the garage yesterday?" Jack asked.

"Yeah" Troy said pulling the covers over his head to stop his father asking more questions.

He slept until about ten and then came down and made himself some toast and more Berocca and panadol. His mother was gone as usual but remembering that Gabriella was travelling to her new home that day he rang to see if she was available to talk.

"Hi Troy How are you this morning?" Gabriella asked cheerfully.

"I'm not feeling the greatest but I only have myself to blame for that. I just got up and am waiting for the toast to cook" he admitted sheepishly.

Gabriella laughed softly "I refuse to feel sorry for you. How was the party?"

"About what I expected. Too much alcohol, it was just the team and the cheerleaders and it got a bit out of hand" Troy said. "I played with a nice dog, a golden retriever."

Gabriella laughed. "A dog?"

"Well she was the nicest bitch there" Troy said cheekily. "I hung out with Chad, Zeke and Jason for a while too which was fun. What are you doing?"

"I've finished my packing and am waiting for the car to come to take up to the airport" Gabriella said smiling.

"Are you looking forward to knowing where you'll be living? It must be odd not to know" Troy asked curiously.

Gabriella sighed "I really shot myself in the foot with this one. Normally I Google the area and my new school and get some maps and stuff so I'm not completely lost. But I can't bring myself to admit to Mom that I do care about where we are moving to. I'll find out tomorrow so I guess I can research it all tomorrow night. I can't even decide what I want to wear I don't know whether we're moving to Southern California or Alaska" she said despondently.

Troy laughed "We can look stuff up together" he offered. "Where would you choose to move to if it was up to you? Would you go back somewhere you've been before?"

Gabriella thought about it. "Part of me would like to live near my father's grave in Denver but I definitely don't want to go back to school with the same people who knew me then. I'd like to be near the beach, somewhere it doesn't snow all the time or rain all summer I hate the cold. I want to go to Stanford so maybe somewhere near there so I don't have to move too far to go to college. Back to Granby High in Norfolk would also be good seeing Chelsea's back there. Or it might be nice to move somewhere near you so I'd already have a friend."

Troy smiled. "I'd like it if you moved near here so I could visit" he said cheerfully not adding that he would prefer her to attend one of the neighbouring schools so his reputation wouldn't stop her from continuing to be his friend.

"Do you really think we could be friends if we went to the same school?" Gabriella asked.

"I would want you to be my friend but it would be difficult to be friends at school. It doesn't sound like we'd hang out with the same people" Troy replied thinking 'Lots of people would probably warn you to stay away from me'.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked.

"Well I generally hang out with the basketball team. It's easier that way, they understand the pressure and it keeps Dad happy. You don't sound like the type of girl to hang around with the jocks" Troy explained.

"I'm not cheerleader material you mean?" Gabriella asked only slightly hurt.

"Gabriella if you wanted to be a cheerleader I'm sure you could be. You're certainly pretty enough and you said you're a dancer but to be honest you don't talk like a cheerleader. You seem a lot more serious, it'd probably bore you silly to hang out with them all the time" Troy said laughing.

Gabriella blushed at the compliments glad he couldn't see her. "You sound like you don't like cheerleaders very much" she said perceptively. "Why do you hang out with them if you don't like them?"

"They hang around the team I couldn't get rid of them if I wanted to without quitting playing basketball and Dad'd kill me if I did. They're okay I guess but they tend to scare off girls like you who might actually have something interesting to say but never talk to me because I'm always surrounded by the cheerleaders" he explained not mentioning that he hung around them for the sex.

Gabriella thought back to the sports stars on her various schools. Troy was right she did tend to avoid them because upsetting the cheerleaders was one way to make the whole school see you as an enemy or someone to avoid like the plague. She'd always thought the sport stars preferred the company of the slutty airheads but from what Troy was saying he definitely didn't.

"Surely some of them must have some level of intelligence" Gabriella remarked.

Troy shrugged though Gabriella couldn't see it. "If they do they're really good at hiding it" he retorted. "Some of them get reasonable grades but they don't seem interested in anything but fashion, makeup, boyfriends and gossip."

Gabriella laughed at Troy's disgruntled tone "And what do the boys on the team talk about?" she asked.

"Well Basketball, sports, girls, video games, school" Troy admitted.

"So not so much different then?"

"Well Chad and I talk about family stuff, and college plans and stuff as well"

"Well I can't talk gossip with you because we don't know any of the same people and I'm not much interested in fashion and make-up so you're pretty safe" Gabriella said smiling.

"Do you think that's why we talk about all this other stuff, because we can't talk about anyone but ourselves?" Troy asked sounding worried.

"Partly but if we didn't want to talk about ourselves and things we'd just stop calling each other" Gabriella reassured him. I sometimes think we do talk about more personal stuff because we don't see each other though. The anonymity allows us to be more honest than we would have been if you'd spent the week here at Breckenridge with me or if we'd met next week at my new school."

"Yeah particularly if we'd met at school or I knew you'd be coming to East High" Troy agreed. "It almost makes it worth having to leave early and become friends over the phone instead of in person."

"Yes it does" Gabriella said surprised.

'I miss the kissing though. It was nice to have someone actually attracted to the real me' they both thought.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, LaueeeCarter, Siobhan, stordec23, kelsey, iminlove13 and Bookworm452 for your support.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Gabriella still didn't know where they were going as she and her mother arrived at the airport. She was ignoring her mother and texting Troy.

"AT AIRPORT

FUNNY NOT KNOWING WHERE GOING

MOM NAGGING BOUT STUFF

Troy rang back.

"Hey Gabriella so you're about to find out where you will be living?"

"Maybe or maybe just the first stopover. Mom's been nagging about my attitude all morning so I still haven't asked"

"If you have a stopover near here I could try to come visit I only live about 40 minutes from the airport" Troy said.

"Just a sec I'll ask"

"Mom do we have a stopover somewhere of are we flying directly?" Gabriella asked her Mom.

"We're flying via Denver we'll be there in about 40 minutes if the flight is running on time. We have a two hour layover there"

"Hey Troy we stop over for two hours in Denver in forty minutes. Is that anywhere near you?" Gabriella asked.

Troy sighed "No it isn't. Denver's a pretty boring airport. We stopped there on our way home too."

"So where do you live?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Uh Uh I'll text you my address when you text me yours. That was the deal" Troy said smiling.

Gabriella laughed "I've got to go we're about to get on the plane."

"Sure, ring me when you get to Denver" Troy said.

"Okay Bye Troy"

"Bye Gabriella"

"I can't understand why you're so interested in keeping up a friendship with a boy you only met once when you've not even tried to keep contact with your friends from Atlanta?" Maria said to her daughter frustrated.

"That's because I didn't have any friends in Atlanta" Gabriella replied crossly. "Something you would have known if you didn't spend all your time there working."

"Well what about your friends from Chicago or Seattle?" Maria asked,

"Last time I rang one of my so called friends from Seattle they didn't remember who I was. I wasn't really there long enough to make long term friends, same with Chicago" Gabriella said tiredly. "I'm going to put all my efforts into studying if I get enough credits I can graduate this year. Then I'll live on campus at college and I'll be able to make friends because it won't matter if you move every three or four months, I won't have to."

"You're not going to even try to make friends?" Maria asked horrified.

"Probably not. It's not worth it" Gabriella said bluntly.

"But the company promised we won't be moved again until at least June next year you can finish out your High schooling in one place" Maria protested.

"Yeah the same as they promised last time" Gabriella said putting her earphones in and turning up the volume to drown out whatever else her mother had to say.

-o0o-

Troy walked back to Breanna's to help with the cleanup knowing most of the others would feel at least as bad if not worse than he did.

"Hey Troy, where have you been?" Jason asked waggling his eyebrows in innuendo.

"I wish" Troy said smirking. "I went home so Dad wouldn't come looking for me. I came back to help with the clean up. What should I do?"

"Hey Troy" Liana came over now fully dressed at least and draped herself on him.

"Liana I came to work. If you haven't got a job for me I have other things to do" Troy said pulling her arms away from around his neck.

"Hey Breanna" he called. "What can I do to help clean up?"

"Can you go and kick everyone out upstairs and strip the beds?" Breanna asked.

"Sure. See ya soon" Troy said cheerfully as he walked upstairs banging on doors as he went. "Time to get up" he said loudly.

"Fuck off" a voice called through the door.

"Breanna's parents will be home in two hours, strip the bed and throw the sheets out so I can put them on to wash while you tidy the rest of the room" Troy ordered firmly.

Troy continued knocking on doors returning to collect the sheets when he was done. He took them down and loaded them in the washing machine putting it on.

"Shit Troy since when do you know how to use a washing machine" Breanna asked coming to check on him.

"I'm not completely useless around the house you know" Troy said crossly as he left to collect another load.

He then went outside and helped Chad collect the empty bottles and disposable shot glasses. "How many of these things did Breanna make?" he asked surprised at the number littering the yard.

"Dunno I must've picked up about a hundred already" Chad replied grinning.

"I reckon I had a couple of dozen and I was still one of the soberest people here" Troy said.

"Coach pissed off this morning?" Chad asked.

"He was up when I got home just after five. I don't think he was too upset" Troy reported. "No doubt he'll expect me to make up for missing training this afternoon though."

"Do you want us to come and help keep him from getting out of control?" Chad offered.

"If you would that'd be great" Troy said gratefully."I wish I didn't need your help but I probably will" he added despondently.

"Maybe it won't be that bad" Chad said trying to get his friend to be optimistic.

"We'll see" Troy said returning to work.

Once the washing was done Troy snuck away again not wanting to be held up by Liana or one of the others.

-o0o-

The plane landed in Denver on schedule and Gabriella immediately text Troy

IN DENVER

ALMOST OUT CREDIT

Troy rang back as he was walking home from Breanna's.

"Hi Gabriella how was your flight?" he asked.

"Boring I listened to Pink the whole way so I didn't have to listen to Mom" Gabriella replied sighing.

"I like Pink" Troy said smiling.

"You're right there's nothing to do here at Denver" Gabriella complained.

"Yeah it's pretty dull unless you have money to spend. There's a good computer shop there" Troy said.

"We're sitting at the gate waiting for the flight" Gabriella said.

"Do you know where you're going yet?" Troy asked curiously.

"No and I had a fight with Mom so I can't ask" Gabriella said sighing.

"Ouch what did you fight about?" Troy asked sympathetically.

Gabriella hesitated but sighed and admitted. "Talking to you"

"What?" Troy exclaimed.

"She was cross because I spend so much time talking to you when I haven't rung anyone from Atlanta. She got upset when I told her I didn't have any friends in Atlanta, Chicago or Seattle to ring and that she'd know that if she didn't spend so much time working. I mean I went to summer school in Chicago and did an entire extra semester so I can graduate early and she didn't even notice" Gabriella said furiously.

Troy winced at the level of anger "Wow, so does that mean you'll graduate at the end of the year or middle of next year?" he asked.

"Maybe. But probably the middle of next year. It'll depend on what specific requirements the new school I go to has for graduation" Gabriella said.

"Huh?" Troy asked confused.

"Some schools require a certain number of l humanities credits and science credits and so forth other school require a specific subject such as health or physical education and others don't care what subjects you've done so long as you've completed the right number of senior courses" Gabriella explained.

"Oh okay?" Troy said still not really understanding the differences.

"I'll be able to explain it better once I meet with the guidance councillor tomorrow" Gabriella said. "I'd like to graduate this year if it's possible so I can go to college next year. Just think about it, knowing you're going to be living in the same place for most of the year for four years in a row" she added dreamily.

Troy smiled at her enthusiasm "And everyone else will be new too so you start on an even footing" he added. "You could make friends more easily."

Mom's come over I have to get on the plane" Gabriella said.

"Do you know where you're going yet?" he asked.

"No I'll ring you when I get there" Gabriella said.

"Text me and I'll ring you" Troy offered.

"Your phone bill must be astronomical" Gabriella exclaimed remembering that he'd been the one to call more often than not.

"Yeah I guess, but Mom packaged it with the other phones for her business. She doesn't seem to care how much I use it. Besides it's her fault we couldn't have said all this in person" Troy said dismissive of the potential cost.

Gabriella laughed "I'll text you later Troy."

"Bye Gabriella have a good flight" Troy wished.

He went home and changed and run the five miles he'd missed earlier feeling better about everything after talking to Gabriella. He hoped she'd move somewhere not too far away so he could visit.

-o0o-

The plane landed and Maria grabbed Gabriella's phone as she got it out. "I'll give it back to you later. I want to talk to you first. I'm really concerned that you're trying to start a long term relationship with this Troy and you don't really know anything about him. You'll probably never see him again. He's going to go back to school tomorrow and soon he'll meet someone and you'll be hurt."

"Troy is the closest thing I've had to a real friend in years" Gabriella replied. "I won't shut myself out from the possibility that I'll make friends here wherever we are but for the first time in ages I'm enjoying talking to someone who doesn't want my help with their homework. And I can be myself with him tell him stuff and not worry about him telling someone else."

"All right but I want you to get your things unpacked and organised for tomorrow before you ring him and spend hours talking."

"Okay but can I at least text him my new address. I promised I'd tell him when I found out where I'm moving to"

"I can't believe you didn't ask before now" Maria said handing back the phone and shaking her head at her daughter's stubbornness.

They collected their bags and got in a taxi. Gabriella text Troy the new address as she heard her mother give it to the driver.

-o0o-

Troy was playing basketball with his father and Chad and Zeke when he heard his phone indicate he had a new text. He threw the ball to Jason who was waiting on the side "Take over for me" he said.

"Troy" his father called angrily.

"Leave off Dad. This isn't training we're just playing for fun I'll be back in a minute" Troy said taking out his phone and checking the message.

He read the address twice disbelievingly then ran inside to double check the address. It was only a couple of blocks from here almost on his way to school meaning that Gabriella would be going to East High.

Troy wasn't sure how he felt about that. He'd missed her more than he'd thought it was possible to miss anyone and talking to her was rivalling spending time with Jakie as the highlight of his day. He couldn't wait to see her though he was worried about how things would go once she started school and saw how other people reacted towards him. He was glad that he'd been honest with her about the cheerleaders and she'd still wanted to be his friend. Now though he'd have to admit his reputation and explain what openly being his friend would do to her reputation. He calculated how long it was likely to take them to arrive at their new house and planned to be there waiting to greet his friend. First though he'd have to go out and play some more basketball to keep Coach happy. He had forty minutes so surely he and Chad could work something out.

Troy headed back outside and when he got a moment explained to Chad and Zeke his need to go out in about half an hour.

"Don't sweat it Bro we'll shut this down in about 15 minutes and suggest going for ice cream you can disappear from there" Chad replied knowing that Jack would keep Troy playing until Lucille called them both in to dinner or the neighbours complained about the noise again if they didn't do something to prevent it.

"Thanks Man" Troy said clapping his childhood friend on the shoulder.

They played for another 15 minutes before Chad announced that he was starving and needed cookies and ice cream.

"We don't have any, Mom's been at work nearly 24/7 since we got home" Troy complained.

"Let's go to the ice-cream parlour" Zeke suggested.

"Sounds like a plan" Jason agreed, he was not part of the plan because he would have given it away in an instant, but he was always to be depended on to want ice-cream.

"Sounds good just let me hit the bathroom and grab a jacket" Troy agreed.

Jack frowned but didn't say anything heading inside to his office.

Troy ran upstairs and put on some deodorant before pulling on a clean T-shirt, jeans and a jacket and running the comb through his hair before rushing out to meet the others.

"Woo hoo this chic must be something special" Zeke teased.

"Yeah who is tonight's lucky lady?" Chad asked.

Troy blushed uncharacteristically. "It's not a hook up" he protested.

"A real date? Troy your old man's gonna go ballistic" Chad exclaimed teasingly.

"No not a date either. A friend has just moved to Albuquerque and I need to talk to her before she starts school tomorrow. She needs to know what will happen if she tells people that we're friends" Troy said sighing.

"You really like this girl?" Zeke asked seriously.

"Yeah I do. She's really great. But chances are after tomorrow she won't want to come within a hundred miles of me" Troy said despondently.

"Troy if this girl is worth it she'll understand." Chad said encouragingly putting his hand on his friends shoulder. "If she knows you she knows you're more than your reputation."

"What will you do if she only wants to be friends on the quiet away from school?" Zeke asked.

"I would agree of course. I'm worried about her not being able to make other friends if everyone thinks she's a friend of mine. Not to mention how the cheerleaders will treat her" Troy replied instantly. "Besides I'm not allowed to have a girlfriend anyway. Dad will give her hell if he thinks she's distracting me."

"Point her out to us tomorrow and we'll help make sure she's not being bullied" Chad offered.

"Thanks Man" Troy said smiling wanly.

"Our reputations aren't much better than Troy's. We won't be able to help much" Zeke said thoughtfully.

"You better get going if you don't want to be late" Chad said.

"Bye Troy have fun" Jason said smirking.

"Bye guys thanks" Troy said smiling nervously.

He walked over to the address Gabriella had text him feeling more nervous and excited with every step.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, iigothicxxxgirl666, LaueeeCarter, ceciliaa93, Siobhan, old voldys gone moldy, littlemissloverofbooks, N. , melzzzzzz, CrackHeadBlonde and guest for your support.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters though I did purchase a new unscratched copy of the DVD today.

Troy arrived at Gabriella's new address to find the house empty so after ringing the bell a couple of times he sat down on the front steps to wait. It was an effort to stop himself from getting up and pacing but he didn't want to let Gabriella see how nervous he was or look like the neighbourhood lunatic in front of her mom.

In the taxi Gabriella was checking her phone as they drove up the street. "He said he'd ring but I guess he's busy" she said sadly.

Her mother looking out the window and seeing a young man sitting patiently on the front steps of the house she recognised from the real estate website wondered. "Gabriella where did you say your friend lives?" she asked.

"He refused to tell me until I could tell him" she said smiling at the memory.

"Didn't you tell me that he was tall and athletic with honey blond hair in need of a haircut and a healthy tan for a white boy?" Maria asked disbelievingly.

"Yes why?" Gabriella asked confused.

"Is that him sitting on our new front steps?" Maria asked pointing.

Gabriella looked across at the young man who had looked up and smiled as he heard the taxi pull into the drive"

"Oh my God" she breathed.

"Well get out and go say hello" her mother told her smiling.

Gabriella almost stumbled in her haste to get out of the car and walked awkwardly up the path.

"Troy I don't believe it" Gabriella said excitedly.

"Hi Gabriella" he said awkwardly standing with his hands in his pockets. "Welcome to Albuquerque"

"You live near here?" Gabriella asked delighted.

"About ten minutes walk that way" Troy said pointing.

"So we'll be going to school together. This is so great I'll have a friend before I start" Gabriella said enthusiastically.

"Um yeah about that.." Troy began.

"You don't want to be my friend in public. You're afraid that hanging around with a geek like me will damage your reputation like all the others" Gabriella cried out hurt, turning away.

Troy quickly grabbed her hands. "Gabriella no! I'd love to be your friend and if you want me to I'll hang out with you as much as I can. It's your reputation that will be damaged by hanging out with me" Troy said desperately.

Gabriella stopped and stared at him. Troy rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "This is the thing I didn't want to tell you the other night that I would like to change but can't" he said quietly glancing from her to her mother who was standing just out of earshot waiting to be introduced. "I promise I will tell you today but please don't ask me to tell you now in front of your mom."

Gabriella also looked over and saw her mother watching the two of them. She nodded and walked towards her.

"Mom this is my friend Troy who I met on New Year's Eve. Troy this is my mother Maria Montez" she introduced.

"Pleased to meet you Mrs Montez" Troy said holding out his hand.

Maria shook his hand slightly amused and impressed by the boy's old fashioned manners. "I'm pleased to finally meet you Troy but I'm sure Gabriella and I have a great deal to do this afternoon to set the house in order" she said smiling.

"If you would like I would be pleased to help" Troy offered knowing that Gabriella's mother's comments could easily have been a hint for him to leave.

"Well if you truly mean it I will put you to work moving furniture" Maria warned him. "Everything was well labelled but I'm sure the moving company got some things wrong for all that. They always do."

"I wouldn't know ma'am we've never moved house in my life but I will gladly help. Shall we go and see what needs to be done. I can call my friend Chad if we need him. I'm sure he will help as well, he owes me a favour" Troy said politely.

"Hopefully it won't be that bad" Maria said.

Maria's opinion of Troy rose steadily as he spent several hours downstairs moving furniture and carrying boxes and helping unpack the kitchen without a word of complaint even after she had sent Gabriella upstairs to unpack her personal belongings.

Finally they finished the kitchen and Maria came across the box of tools. "Troy can you take these up to Gabriella and help her put her bed together" she said handing him the set of screw drivers and the wrench.

"Sure" Troy said cheerfully before hurrying up the stairs.

He followed the sounds of unpacking and knocked on the open door.

Gabriella looked up and smiled "Has Mom scared you off yet?" she asked.

"No actually she sent me up to ask you to help me put the beds together" Troy said holding up the tools.

"Sure let's do Mom's first" Gabriella suggested leading the way to her mother's room.

With Troy's strength and Gabriella's experience in reassembling furniture they quickly had the frame assembled and the mattress in place.

Maria met them as they came out of her room. "Troy, Gabriella?" she said questioningly.

"Gabriella suggested we put your bed together first while you were busy downstairs" Troy said calmly.

"Okay finish Gabriella's bed and then I think you'd better get home for dinner before your parents start to worry" Maria replied.

"Okay Mrs Montez" Troy said cheerfully and they went into Gabriella's room leaving the door open.

"Can you tell me about the problem with being my friend at school?" Gabriella asked quietly as they heard Maria go back downstairs.

Troy put his tools down. "Gabriella I really like you. I've never had a friend I can talk to the way I talk to you. Chad and I are close and I know he's got my back no matter what but guys don't talk about feelings and stuff. It's been really great to be able to do that" Troy said sincerely taking Gabriella's hands and looking her in the eyes.

"I've never had a friend like you either Troy. If you've got a good enough reason for it I would be willing to just be friends away from school if it's that important to you" Gabriella said smiling sadly.

"I'm mostly trying to protect you. If you're friends with me then you'll find it almost impossible to make friends at school" Troy tried to explain.

"Why Troy? You're a great guy. But even as the Basketball captain you can't truly believe that all the other girls would be jealous enough of our friendship as to avoid me" Gabriella said disappointed to think her new friend had such a huge ego.

Troy sighed "They won't be jealous, they'll think you're a total slut if you're my friend" he said quietly.

"WHAT?" Gabriella screeched.

"Most of the students at East High believe that I'm having sex with every girl I'm friendly with. A lot of girls at school won't even say hello to me for fear of the rumours it would start" Troy tried to explain.

"And is it true?" Gabriella asked shocked.

Troy shrugged "No of course not. But you could honestly call me a slut or the male equivalent."

"So you do sleep around a lot?" Gabriella asked.

"Umm yeah. Not with every girl I speak to obviously but I have several regular..." Troy trailed off not knowing how to describe his lifestyle.

"Friends with benefits?" Gabriella queried sighing.

"Yeah except I wouldn't say most of them are real friends either" Troy admitted blushing.

"The cheerleaders?" Gabriella asked remembering Troy's earlier comments about them.

Troy nodded "Yeah"

"Then if it's just the cheerleaders why do people think you treat all girls like that?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged. "Some of the cheerleaders put out a rumour that I expect any girl I take on a date to put out and I will never ask anyone on a second date unless they do. I think they probably did it to stop me from dating someone and starting a relationship with someone other than them. The joke of that is that I don't date at all. I'm not allowed. I might pick up a girl at a party when I've had too much to drink but most of the time they proposition me. Until recently I had no reason to turn them down and turning down one cheerleader when I'm sleeping with the rest of them regularly would actually cause more problems than accepting."

"Don't the rest of your team get upset that you have dibs on the cheerleaders?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"No it's not like that. I don't expect them to be faithful to me and most of them are just as promiscuous as I am. If one of the guys wants to start a serious relationship with one of the cheerleaders they know that all they have to do is ask and I'll stop seeing that person." Troy explained.

"You'd stop seeing a girl because one of your team called dibs? Even if the girl isn't interested in the guy in question?" Gabriella asked unsure how she felt about that.

Troy shrugged. "Yeah the relationship with the team has to come first. It's not like I like any of them more than the others anyway. Besides most of the guys take advantage of the fact that none of the cheerleaders can expect an exclusive relationship" Troy replied.

"So the other guys in the team have a similar arrangement?" Gabriella said suspiciously.

Troy nodded "Most of them, but I'm the one with the worst reputation because I'm the one who the rumours were started about" he said sighing.

"And the one the girls want the most" Gabriella guessed.

Troy shrugged but didn't deny it. "I'm the captain, the one with the highest profile" he added.

"So what do you think I should do?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't know Gabriella. I don't want to make decisions for you. If you're going to be here for the next eighteen months then you need more friends than just me. My team will protect you from actual bullying as much as they can but they're jocks I can't guarantee they'll be in all you classes. But if you want to stay friends in secret only I'd agree. I don't want to lose you. But I'd understand if you're totally disgusted with me now and don't want to be my friend at all" Troy said despondently.

"Our friendship has become important to me Troy but I'm not sure what to do now. Can I think about it? I'll call you tomorrow." Gabriella offered.

"Okay Gabriella I'll talk to you tomorrow" Troy said getting up and leaving. He stood there awkwardly for a moment wanting to say something more but didn't know what to say.

Troy said goodbye to Mrs Montez on his way downstairs and hurried home aware that he'd be in trouble with his father for being gone so long even though he'd rung the house earlier and actually spoken to his mother for the first time in a week to let her know he wouldn't be home in time for dinner. He refused to feel guilty though he'd run five miles before an hour of drills with his father before his friends arrived and a done couple of hours of training disguised as playing basketball with them that afternoon before he'd asked Chad to help get him out of there so he could visit Gabriella. He was more anxious about the conversations going on between Gabriella and her mother and what Gabriella was thinking now she knew he was living in Albuquerque too.

"Hey Mama" Troy said as he entered the house. "Did you save me some dinner?" he asked giving her a quick hug.

"Hello Troy how has your week been. We missed you at dinner" she said slightly disapprovingly.

"Sorry Mom I didn't know you'd be home for dinner" Troy said refusing to feel guilty just because his mother had decided not to work late for a change. He headed into the kitchen to forage for food. "Can I have some of this?" he asked lifting the chicken casserole out of the refrigerator.

"Yes of course" Lucille said dismissively. "Where have you been that you haven't eaten?"

"Helping a friend move house. They arrived today and didn't have any food to eat" Troy replied.

"How do you know him if he's just arrived in Albuquerque?" Lucille asked curiously.

"I met her at Breckinridge last week" Troy said casually.

"So how did ice-cream with the guys turn in to helping a friend move?" Jack asked suspiciously. "And since when do you dress up to go out with Chad, Jason and Zeke?"

Troy sighed. "I'm on holiday Dad. We were playing basketball not training. I went to meet a friend instead of out with the others. What difference does it make?" He asked tiredly. "I'm going to bed."

He got up with his meal three quarters eaten and headed back to the kitchen where he gulped down the rest and loaded his plate into the dishwasher before going to his room and throwing himself on the bed.

He wanted to ring Gabriella but he'd promised to give her time to think. Instead he got up and printed off the map of the school to take her highlighting the areas the juniors hung out and had classes. He text her to let her know he was available if she wanted to talk though he didn't expect a response and picked up 'Pride and Prejudice' to try to finish it. He read a bit, threw the book at the wall in frustration when it failed to distract him from his worries, paced around the room and eventually decided to get some exercise. He went down to the garage and got out the weight sets not trusting himself to stay away from Gabriella's if he went out to run and saw lights on at her house. Knowing the dangers of working out alone he stuck to the dumbbells, and skipping rope working himself to exhaustion.

After a poor night sleep where he had nightmares of Gabriella being in all his classes and refusing to talk to him at all Troy was up even earlier than usual to run. He adjusted his running route next morning to run past Gabriella's house though he wasn't expecting anyone to be awake so early. It was a nice looking house. The garden looked well laid out though dormant at this time and the outside well maintained. Gabriella would enjoy it once spring came. He ran past and then doubled back and passed it again on the way back but it was still so early it looked like no one was awake yet. Arriving home he made himself some breakfast and returned to his room to shower before anyone else in the house came down. In spite of the fact it was Saturday it seemed his mother was going to work this morning because he could hear her moving about already. "Not running this morning Troy?" She asked as she came past his open door.

"I've already been" he replied looking up. "Are you working all day?"

Lucille sighed "probably" she said. "I should be home in time for dinner though so please try to be in time so we can eat as a family."

"Sure" Troy agreed.

"What are your plans for the day?"

Troy shrugged. "I'll clean the bathroom and vacuum upstairs once dad gets up then I'm going over to spend time with Gabriella. Maybe show her around a bit. I promised her I'd help paint her new room so if she's chosen the colour we might get started in that." 'If she doesn't decide she never wants to talk to me again' he thought.

Lucille blushed at the reminder that her son was doing most of the housework but there was no point protesting when she didn't have time to do it herself this weekend.

"Who's Gabriella?" Lucille asked.

"The friend I met at Breckenridge that I helped move in yesterday" Troy replied wondering if she'd even listened to his explanation the night before.

"Have fun then" she said coming in to kiss his forehead.

"Thanks Mom. Have a good day" he replied.

Troy's father wanted him to train that morning.

"Okay Dad but I need to do some housework first and I have plans with friends later. I'm not spending all day playing basketball" Troy said firmly. "I'll see you out on the court in about an hour."

Jack frowned "The championship is only two weeks away Troy you need to be on the top of your game" he protested.

"Well you could vacuum upstairs or clean your own bathroom to save me some time" Troy said unmoved.

"What's for breakfast?" Jack asked ignoring the suggestion.

"I had cereal and toast" Troy replied making his way to clean the bathroom before Jack could demand that he cook him some breakfast. He completed his chores efficiently and stopped in the lounge to let his father know he was ready for training. "Should I call Chad and the rest of the team?" he asked.

"That's a good idea. Tell them to meet at the outdoor courts at school at one o'clock" Jack replied.

"Dad I told you I have plans this afternoon" Troy said frustrated.

"They can wait til after practice" Jack dismissed.

Troy walked outside and started practicing his jump shot. "I thought you were going to call the team to let them know about practice this afternoon?" Jack said questioningly.

"Why would I organise a practice session when I can't make it?" Troy asked.

"Then make it for three o'clock" Jack said.

"I'm busy all afternoon" Troy replied. 'Hopefully with Gabriella' he thought. Continuing to practice shooting. "Do you want to play a little one-on-one now or should I call Chad?" he asked ignoring his father's reaction.

In the end they played and Troy was able to beat his father so conclusively that Jack was ready for a break by the time Troy's phone rang. "Ten minutes Troy" he said as he walked towards the house to get himself a drink.

Troy rolled his eyes at his father's back.

"Hey Gabriella" he said. "I'm glad you rang"

"You sound out of breath am I interrupting?" Gabriella asked uncertainly.

"Just Basketball practice with Dad and I was more than ready for a break" Troy said reassuringly.

"Can you come over after lunch? I want to talk to you face to face" she asked.

"Sure" Troy said grinning.

"Thanks Troy. Don't get your hopes up too much though, I haven't decided anything yet except that I need more information" Gabriella said.

"Okay Gabriella I'll be there about two" Troy said optimistically. He knew that even though Gabriella said she hadn't made a decision the fact that she wanted to talk to him meant she was leaning in his favour. He returned to training where his father could see him and was soon joined by Jack who helped him work on his shooting three pointers.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Mimiash2012, stordec23, old voldys gone moldy, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, iigothicxxxgirl666, lilmonipurple, trinn14 and guest for your support.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy walked over to Gabriella's anxious but trying to be positive. He'd had a good morning. Steve had rung to ask him to babysit next Wednesday night and offered to let him stay the night and give him a ride to school in the morning and then wanted to speak to Jack so he'd been able to leave without another argument with his dad.

"Hi Troy, Gabriella said you'd be coming by. She's up in her room painting samples to choose a colour" Maria greeted as she answered the door.

"Hi Ms Montez, can I go up and help her?" Troy asked.

"Of course just be sure to leave the door open" Maria said smiling. "I'll be up in an hour with some snacks."

Troy grinned at the transparent warning that she'd be checking up on them. "Thanks Ms Montez" he said walking up the stairs. "Hi Gabriella" he said knocking on the door jamb. "Can I help? You should have asked me to wear old clothes" he said sitting on the floor beside her.

"Can you grab the next pot out of the bag and paint a little on each wall under the number written on the lid" Gabriella asked.

"Sure, can I take of my shirt?" he asked.

Gabriella looked at him in alarm.

"I have a T-shirt on too" he reassured her. "I wouldn't ask except it's new."

"Umm okay" Gabriella said uncertainly.

Troy unbuttoned his shirt and laid it on the bed revealing a thin white T-shirt and carefully opened the paint tin and started work. "What are we doing?" he asked.

"I'm trying to match a paint colour I saw in a picture on the net" Gabriella said. "I want to paint each wall to see how it looks in the different light. Haven't you done this before?" she asked surprised.

"No I was eleven last time I redecorated my room and we just picked a colour at the shop and painted" Troy said.

"I used to do it that way but then you risk getting a colour you don't actually like" she explained.

Troy decided to get it over and done with. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Let's finish the samples I want to be able to face you while we talk" Gabriella put off.

"Okay" Troy said. "How's the unpacking going? Have you looked up anything about East High yet?"

"No I decided to let you tell me a bit about it first before I look up the official information" Gabriella said. "It will be good to get an honest opinion even if it's from a very different point of view than I'm likely to have."

"Okay what do you want to know?" Troy asked curiously.

"Well for starters what's the food like? Do people bring their own lunches? Is there plenty of space to eat in the cafeteria or do students eat elsewhere?"

Troy laughed "I was expecting questions about the academics" he said. "The cafeteria's pretty good though Chad complains about the lack of junk food and Zeke about the quality of the deserts. I bring my own lunch a lot of days because it gives me more time to spend training but if I have time I eat cafeteria food. The cafeteria's huge and everyone fits. The Junior and Senior class have first lunch and the 9th and 10th graders have second so we eat at 12 o'clock. At this time of year most kids eat in the cafeteria unless they have club meetings, some people eat outside when the weather warms up."

"Okay can you tell me about clubs?" Gabriella asked.

"I'm not in any, but there is a science club and chem club, drama club, chess club, a heap of sports teams and probably a lot of others I haven't heard of. I'm not the best person to ask about clubs because I don't have time for them" Troy explained.

"Of course not you've just told me you don't always have time to eat. Is it because of basketball practice or your extra training?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy smiled "Regular practice, it's the same for the rest of the varsity and JV, we have practice twice a day during the season and am expected to spend some time in the weight gym most days as well. All my extra training is at home, before and after school and weekends."

Gabriella looked at him surprised. "What about in the off season?"

"The season finishes in a couple of weeks so hopefully I'll get some time off but if we win we go to the state championships in a month's time and there's a chance I'll make the state squad and Dad thinks I might. State training will start as soon as the squad is chosen. I am also on the golf team and run track in the summer season."

Gabriella shook her head and laughed. "Do you want to make the state squad?"

Troy sighed "It would make getting a scholarship more likely. And it would be fun to play with different guys and to be coached by someone else" he said.

"But?" Gabriella asked.

"I would kinda like a break from basketball. Dad will probably use being named in the squad as a reason to increase my training. And I've never been on a team without Chad" Troy admitted.

"Won't he be offered a place too?" Gabriella asked.

"To be honest I'll be surprised if I get a place. There are 163 High School teams in New Mexico and they only have twenty places on the squad and most of those will go to seniors" Troy explained.

"But your Dad thinks you will get one?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "I think it's more he hopes I will. I'm wining the MVP points for our division and if we win the championship there's a chance I'll be picked. He'll be disappointed if I don't get a place but there's always next year." Troy finished his painting and Gabriella took the brushes down to clean up while Troy put his shirt back on and paced anxiously.

Gabriella arrived back with two bottles of lemonade and a packet of biscuits."Mom hasn't had time to bake brownie for us" she said apologetically.

"It's fine Gabriella I'll look forward to tasting your favourite food another time" Troy said smiling. "Are you ready to talk? What do you want to ask me?"

"I want you to promise to answer all my questions truthfully Troy. No matter how much you think I won't like it"

"I have never lied to you Gabriella. Everything I've told you has been absolutely true, when I didn't want to tell you something I either brushed over it or told you directly that I didn't feel ready to tell you" Troy replied a little hurt that Gabriella felt she needed him to promise.

"I'm sorry Troy I didn't mean it like that" Gabriella apologised seeing the hurt in his eyes.

"Okay I promise to answer all your questions truthfully" Troy agreed sighing.

"Thank you Troy" Gabriella said.

She was silent for a while, "Thais is harder than I thought I don't know where to start."

Troy smiled slightly "You can ask me anything. What do you want to know?"

"That's the problem I'm not sure what I need to know to make my decisions" Gabriella said.

"Let's break it down a bit. Do you still want to be my friend?" Troy asked anxiously.

"I think so. I've never met anyone I can talk to like I talk with you" Gabriella said smiling slightly.

Troy took her hand. "That's one advantage of this mess" he said wearily. After today you will know all my worst habits and secrets. You'll know there's nothing you can tell me that would really shock me."

Gabriella smiled "That's true"

"So what's stopping you from knowing you want to be my friend?" Troy asked.

"Why do you want to be friends with me?" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella you're wonderful I've never felt this sort of connection with anyone else. I love talking to you even when I didn't know if I'd see you again I needed to talk to you every day" Troy said earnestly.

"It worries me the way you treat your girlfriends. It shows an absolute lack of respect for women" Gabriella said bluntly.

Troy shook his head "They're not my girlfriends and I agree the way I treat the cheerleaders shows disrespect for them but I do respect other women."

"Who?" Gabriella asked.

"Well I love my Mom and I'm proud of her success. I don't begrudge her work though I wish she was around more often. Chad's mom Mrs Danforth is a great second mother to me, she's a nurse and I love her for the way she cares for everybody. Ms Nankervis who used to live next door and look after me after school is also a wonderful woman who deserved better than what she got from her husband. I don't really know that many nice girls at school but there are lots of girls that I know are nothing like the cheerleaders. There are nice girls at school who I could respect, they just don't want to talk to me" Troy said.

"So you have rules about who you sleep with?" Gabriella asked surprised.

Troy blushed "yeah" he mumbled.

"Can you tell me them?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't sleep with virgins, or with anyone who doesn't understand that they're not the only one and I'm not going to change for them. I won't sleep with anyone who's reputation is going to be hurt by it. All my fuck buddies are known sluts before I go near them. I tell all of them very clearly that I will continue to sleep with other people and if they get upset about it I won't sleep with them. Some girls will tell you they understand and then get upset about it afterwards I won't sleep with someone who's done that again or someone that's done that to Chad or one of the others."

"Does that happen often?" Gabriella asked.

"Sometimes, but the other girls tend to try and warn off new girls as well so not as often now as it did last year."

"Have you ever had any girls you were friends with without having sex with? Not when you were a kid but recently?" Gabriella asked uncertainly.

"I only have one friend who is a girl other than you" Troy replied.

"That's not an answer Troy" Gabriella said slightly annoyed at his avoidance of the question.

"Alyssa used to live next door to me, she's three years older so none of my classmates realised we were friends. She moved before I started High School. She only lives a few blocks from here but just over the line so she didn't go to East High. She's like my big sister."

"So you've never had sex with Alyssa?" Gabriella asked directly seeing it seemed Troy didn't want to answer.

"Not for years. We decided it felt too weird. Alyssa sees me as her brother" Troy answered hoping Gabriella would accept this.

Gabriella frowned and Troy hurried to explain. "Alyssa was my first. She came to see my first varsity game and then came around that night to visit. She was expecting to celebrate with me."

"I thought Brittany helped you with that" Gabriella interrupted.

"Brittany offered and she did help but I was still really upset when Alyssa arrived. She told me about how embarrassing her first experiences with oral sex had been. We ate ice cream and just hung out. A couple of months later she was dating this guy she really liked but she'd heard that he didn't like being someone's first so she asked me" Troy explained.

"Can you be my friend without wanting to have sex with me?" Gabriella asked not sure which way she wanted him to answer. She found him very attractive and wanted him to be attracted to her even if she wasn't ready to consider having sex at all much less with someone she wasn't in love with.

Troy thought for a moment how best to phrase his answer. "Gabriella I won't deny that you turned me on the night we met. I have never been so aroused by a kiss. I am attracted to you. But I don't want to risk our friendship. I can definitely be your friend without having sex with you" he said firmly.

"You don't want to?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't want to treat you like that. You deserve better" Troy said. "Unless I could promise you a real relationship and fidelity I wouldn't do that to you, and I'm sorry Gabriella but I don't know if I can do that. I'm willing to try if you want but you'd be a fool to sleep with me believing I'd changed anytime soon."

"Are you sorry that we're going to be at the same school?"

Troy sighed "You're not going to like this but to be honest Gabriella. Yeah. If you'd moved somewhere else we could have stayed friends via phone and email. I would have eventually told you about all this but you would never have to make the decision to hide our friendship. I'd hoped that you would move somewhere close to Albuquerque, just in another school district so we could have met up and spent time together" Troy said hoping Gabriella wouldn't be too upset by his answer.

"You wanted me to live close enough for us to be friends but not to go to school together?" Gabriella clarified.

"Yeah, it would be easier for me to be friends with you if you weren't at East High and you wouldn't have to deal with Dad or the effects of my reputation" Troy explained.

"Your Dad won't like us being friends?" Gabriella asked shocked.

"My Dad would forbid me to talk to girls all together particularly during basketball season if he had any hope of getting away with it" Troy said tiredly. "He puts up with me hanging out with the cheerleaders because he knows they don't mean anything to me."

"So he'd be angry about it? He teaches physical Education right? Does he teach any other class?" Gabriella asked.

Troy mumbled something Gabriella couldn't quite hear.

"What was that?" she asked.

"He teaches the sex education classes" Troy repeated still so quietly that Gabriella had to strain to hear.

Gabriella laughed "But no other regular classes?" she clarified.

"Not in our year, he teaches 9th and 10th grade health classes and PE is compulsory at East so he has plenty of classes, he fills in sometimes in the English/Humanities subjects though" Troy confirmed.

"I'm not enrolled in physical education, so he won't be one of my teachers. He might be upset about our friendship but there's nothing he can do to me about it" Gabriella said to Troy reassuringly.

Troy smiled with relief "I'm glad you won't be in his class and he's usually too busy in the gym to spend much time patrolling the hallways so you can stay out of his way."

"So other than people thinking I'm a slut for talking to me what would happen?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, the cheerleaders are bitchy to any other girls that hang around the team but I've never heard of them doing more than starting rumours and making nasty comments" Troy said thoughtfully.

"Rumours can do plenty of damage. Particularly while I'm new and nobody knows me to know they're not true" Gabriella said.

"Yeah" Troy agreed. "If you wanted I could tell everyone that you're my cousin, that would protect you from them, but then we couldn't try to see if we could be more than friends. Or I could give all of them up and threaten to tell everyone a blow by blow account of all their secrets if they hurt you."

"You'd do that for me?" Gabriella said surprised.

"Yeah" Troy replied. "I don't know if it would work though."

"Do you have any serious dirt on them?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"I have some rather incriminating photo's I took the other night" Troy said. "Do you want to see?"

He showed her the photo of Jess laying on Jason. Gabriella frowned, "Surely enough people saw her at the party that the photo won't matter" she said noticing the other people in the edges of the photograph.

"It was just the team and the cheerleaders" Troy said as he showed her the other photo of the two girls. "But I think this one will shut up these two and Liana here is the leader most of the time."

"Are they...?" Gabriella trailed off not sure what to ask.

"No they ended up like that after I crawled out from in between them" Troy admitted. "It was just luck that my alarm woke me up and not them. Of course that probably had something to do with the fact they were passed out drunk."

"That's truly disturbing, these girls trusted you enough to fall asleep on top of you and you did this" Gabriella said.

"Liana would stab her own mother in the back if it gave her what she wanted" Troy said. "She didn't fall asleep on me because she trusts me so much as because she liked to have me in her control."

"I need to think about all this some more Troy" Gabriella said.

Troy swallowed and nodded. "I promised to help you paint your room if you moved within a hundred miles of me. Will you have chosen colours for me to do that by tomorrow?" he asked.

Gabriella smiled. "Are you saying you'll come and paint my room even if I decide I don't want to be friends?" she asked surprised.

"I said I would. I've never lied to you Gabriella and I won't start now. But if you decide not to be friends it would be easier to paint your room before we start school on Monday" he said trying to hide how hurt he would be if she decided not to be his friend.

"The paint should be dry enough to see the colours" Gabriella said "let's go check it out."

They got up and Gabriella got out a couple of pillow cases. "It's got to match these" she said.

"Okay at this time of Day number three is a clear winner. I'll check it again in the morning before I buy paint and let you know when we get back from the paint shop" Gabriella decided.

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said.

"I've missed talking to you on the phone last night" Gabriella said. "But I'm just not sure what I should do and I can't ask anyone for advice because Mom wouldn't let me anywhere near you if she knew all this" Gabriella said sighing.

"I almost wish we didn't move to Albuquerque."

"I did tell you it would be better if you moved close by but far enough away to go to a different school" Troy said smiling.

"Yeah I understand that better now" Gabriella agreed surprised to feel that the idea that Troy would prefer her not to go to East High didn't hurt so much anymore.

"If you wanted you could pretend the Troy you're talking to on the phone is a different person to the Troy Bolton you meet at school and we could keep our friendship to phone calls just as if you'd moved somewhere else" he offered.

"I don't know how well that would work Troy" Gabriella said.

"There are over a hundred students in the junior class and I doubt we'd have any subjects or extracurricular activities in common. Unless you end up in my homeroom we could go weeks without seeing each other unless we went out of our way to do so" Troy argued.

"I'll wait and see" Gabriella said.

"I'll see you tomorrow" Troy said kissing her cheek quickly.

"I'll see you Troy" Gabriella replied smiling.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, stordec23, Siobhan, LaueeeCarter, iigothicxxxgirl666, chri5tin3, psj and 391 for your support.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy was emotionally exhausted by the time he got home. Chad and his father were outside tinkering with Mrs Danforth's car. "I thought your mom was just making excuses the other day" he said.

Chad blushed and Charlie Danforth chuckled. "She was. It must be bad karma to lie about car trouble to manipulate people" Charlie replied.

Troy laughed "I'll leave you to it then unless you'd like some help. Good to see you Charlie."

"I think we're done. If you could just turn her on. Save me and Chad having to clean up to do it" Charlie asked.

"Sure" Troy agreed.

The engine turned over nicely and the two Danforths exchanged a high five. "Thanks Troy, good to see you too. Don't forget to clean up before you touch anything Chad" Charlie said heading inside.

"No Dad" Chad replied rolling his eyes.

Troy laughed. "At least he doesn't kick you out of bed to run before dawn" he said knowing how much Chad hated mornings.

"Must have gone pretty well with your girlfriend last night seeing you've been there all day. Or didn't you tell her?" Chad asked.

"She's not my girlfriend" Troy said sadly. "And I don't really know how it went. Okay I guess. She had lots of questions and she listened to my answers without getting upset. She wants another night to think about it before she decides if she wants to be my friend."

"What's she like. Is she interested in cheerleading?" Chad asked.

"No she's more likely to hang out with the science club or something. She's really smart" Troy said.

"Then how'd you become friends with her?" Chad teased.

"I met her at Breckinridge at a New Year's Eve party. We just really hit it off" Troy explained smiling at the memory. "I feel like I can talk to her about anything."

"Did you tell her about your mom and dad?" Chad asked. "Yeah before I knew she'd be coming to East High. At least she won't be taking his class" Troy said sighing. "She'll probably need protecting from him as we'll as the sluts."

Chad winced. "I've got you back man. If she's important to you we will have hers as well" he promised.

"Thanks Bro" Troy said gratefully. "I've got to go. Mom said she wanted a family dinner."

"I don't think she's home yet" Chad replied.

Troy looked at his watch "shit" he exclaimed. "That means I have to cook. I'd better hustle."

Chad waved as he took off "see you tomorrow" he called.

Troy walked in the back door to find the kitchen empty and dark. Cursing he quickly peeled potatoes and prepared vegetables to go with the steaks in the refrigerator and started frying mushrooms to make his father's favourite sauce. He was about to put the steaks in the grill when his father walked in. "Where's Luce?" He asked.

"I don't know. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes" Troy replied.

"What're we having?"

"Steak and mushroom" Troy answered.

"It's late" Jack said mildly nodding in approval at the menu.

"Sorry Dad, Mom told me she'd be home to cook dinner" Troy said hoping his father didn't take his temper out on him.

Jack cursed softly. "Did you cook her meal too?" He asked.

"No the steak would be ruined by the time she got home. I cooked enough veggies and sauce she can grill her own steak when she gets here" Troy said tiredly. "At least I was back from my run early enough to see her today."

"I know it's hard on you too Troy" Jack said.

"Did she give you any idea how long this crises is going to last?" Troy asked.

Jack sighed. "No I'd hoped it was a good sign that she was home in time to cook dinner last night" he said as he left to get cleaned up.

Jack and Troy had just sat down to eat when Lucille came rushing through the door.

"I'm sorry I'm late" she said. "Troy could you order..." She stopped herself as she realised they had meals in front of them. "Where's mine Jack?" She asked.

"I didn't cook yours because I didn't know what time you'd be home" Troy answered. "Have this one and I'll cook the other one for myself" he offered.

"You cooked this Troy?" Lucille asked impressed. "It smells wonderful."

"He cooks nearly as well as you do these days" Jack said to Troy's surprise. "He certainly gets more practice" he added more characteristically.

Troy made a strategic retreat as his parents started bickering. He cooked his steak and heated the veggies and mushroom sauce choosing to eat in the kitchen. his parents were still fighting by the time he'd eaten and cleaned up the kitchen so he headed outside. Climbing up into his treehouse to be out of sight in case coach Bolton decided to work off his bad mood by calling another impromptu practice session.

He fell asleep and stayed out there until it got too cold in spite of the sleeping bag he'd stashed out there for evenings like this then stumbled still half asleep into the house.

"Where have you been?" his mother screeched as she saw him.

"I went outside to get away from the fighting and fell asleep" Troy replied grumpily.

"It's freezing outside" Lucille exclaimed.

"I know" said Troy dryly.

"Then why on earth did you stay outside so long?" Lucille demanded.

Troy shrugged "It was better than listening to you to shout at each other all night"

Jack came down soon after Lucille left next morning and wanted Troy to work on his passes so Troy went out with him and practiced diligently for an hour until Chad turned up. "Can Troy and I play some one-on-one?" he asked.

"We're in the middle of training but you can join in. You can help Troy work on his passes" Jack countered.

Chad agreed, "Sure I could use some work on passes too" he said rather than leave his friend with the obviously angry coach.

Jack drilled them relentlessly in passing and then in intercepts. Troy was almost glad of it because it prevented him having time to worry about Gabriella's decision. Finally Chad rebelled. "Enough" he said sitting on the grass beside the court. "I'm gonna throw up or pass out if I don't take a break."

Jack tried to object when Troy sat down with him.

"Dad I was drilling for nearly an hour before Chad came. I'm not doing any more today" Troy said firmly. "At this rate I'm in danger of pulling a muscle or something because I'm doing too much training." He lay back and closed his eyes not caring what his father thought about that.

Jack turned and walked into the house without saying a word.

"What the hell happened?" Chad asked.

"He and Mom got in a huge argument again last night so I came outside to get away from the shouting and fell asleep in the tree house" Troy explained. "I woke up and came inside about eleven thirty and when they wanted to know where I'd been I told them I was outside freezing my arse of because it was better than listening to them fight. I don't know whether he's pissed at me, Mom or just pissed at the world in general."

"Were you planning on seeing your new friend Gabrielle today?" Chad asked.

"Gabriella" Troy corrected. "I'm gonna help her paint her room. She'll call me when she gets home from the paint shop."

"Do you want me to hang around here and help you get away?" Chad asked.

"Nah Dad's on to that after Friday. It's better if you don't make him pissed at you too. I've done my fair share of training today, I'm just gonna tell him I'm leaving and go" Troy replied determinedly. "What's the worst he could do, he isn't going to risk throwing away the chances of winning the championship by kicking me off the team."

Chad laughed. "Better you than me" he said "I'm out o' here."

Gabriella didn't ring until nearly lunch time and Troy had begun to worry that she wasn't going to accept his help to paint. He didn't know what he would do if she didn't want anything to do with him.

Finally the phone rang.

"Hey Gabriella" Troy said relieved.

"I didn't interrupt training again did I?" Gabriella asked anxiously. "Your Dad's going to hate me."

"No we finished a while ago. Have you got the paint?"

"Yeah. I got white for the window as well but you don't have to help with that unless you want."

"Gabriella it's fine. I'll be there soon"

"You can come over after lunch if you like?"

"I'll bring my lunch with me. I need to get out of here" Troy replied.

"Are your parents fighting again?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"Not at the moment, Mom's at work. Dad's still pissed off from the fight they had last night" Troy replied trying not to show how much it upset him.

"Okay I'll see you soon" Gabriella replied knowing how difficult it was to spend time with an angry parent.

"See you" Troy said. He hurriedly made several sandwiches and collected some fruit and rice crackers into the bag he already had old clothes in for painting before he called out to his father that he was leaving. He was out the door before Jack could react.

"I've made my decision" Gabriella announced when Troy arrived.

"Oh" Troy said almost holding his breath in fear.

"I want to be your friend Troy. I haven't made a friend like you in any of my previous schools and I refuse to hide our friendship in the vain hope that it will help me make friends at East High. I miss talking to you each night and I refuse to give it up" Gabriella declared.

Troy let out a sigh of relief and sank down to sit on the bed grinning. "Thank God" he whispered.

Gabriella smiled seeing that their friendship meant just as much to Troy as it did to her.

Unfortunately it didn't take long for Troy to start to worry about his friend "Gabriella, are you sure? We're not going to be in many classes together if any. I won't be there to protect you" Troy asked worried.

Gabriella was glad that she'd seen his initial reaction or she'd be doubting that he wanted to be her friend. "I'm sure Troy" she confirmed. "If it gets too bad I can always accept early entry into Stanford. I was going to put it off another year if I liked my new school and Mom kept her promise not to move again but I could easily go as early as April if I need to."

Troy looked surprised that Gabriella was able to start college, especially one as prestigious as Stanford, over a year early but believed her without questioning.

"Okay, do you want me to pick you up to walk to school in the morning?" Troy asked.

"Not tomorrow, Mom is going to take me. She has some papers and stuff to sign. But you can walk me home" Gabriella offered.

Troy sighed "I can't Gabriella. I have basketball practice until five. I'll pick you up for school on Tuesday though" he said.

Gabriella smiled "That would be fine Troy. I can catch the bus on Monday afternoon."

"Now did you bring some old clothes to paint in?" she asked. "Or would you like to eat first?"

Troy laughed "I can always eat if you're hungry but I'm not starving yet. How about we get the first coat on and then eat while it dries?"

"Good idea. The bathroom's the second door along if you want to change" Gabriella agreed.

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said taking his bag with him. A minute later he arrived back to find Maria helping Gabriella lay the drop-sheets.

"Hello Troy, do you have much experience with painting?" Maria asked.

"No but I have plenty of experience with ladders and I'm willing to learn" Troy replied cheerfully.

Maria laughed "Well at least we don't have to worry about you falling. The ceiling is already nice and white so we're leaving it alone. Gabriella has already taped all the bottom skirting so can you do the same at the top while Gabi and I do around the door and windows?"

Troy checked out what she was talking about, "Sure I can do that" he agrees taking the tape and climbing up to start.

After finishing the taping Maria taught Troy to cut in the ceiling edge and then use the roller. She was hesitant to leave the two young people alone. In his short running shorts and thin old singlet top it was obvious Troy was very fit and good looking however he'd proven himself a conscientious worker and a nice boy so she wished them well and went downstairs to bake brownies to reward him for being sweet enough to bring Gabriella out of her shell and also for helping Gabriella paint her room a task Maria loathed.

"Tell me more about East High?" Gabriella said.

"Well there are about 100 Juniors though I only know half of them. The smartest person in Junior year is Taylor McKessie who hates all jocks. She won't be happy we're friends once she finds out how smart you are. Chad loves ticking her off which doesn't help but I think it might be a bit of a defence mechanism because he thinks she's hot but out of his league. I don't really know any of the people she hangs around with I only know Taylor because of her fights with Chad. There's some other smart people too East High has a good reputation for academics. They also have a huge theatre program also lead by a girl one of the other guys on my team, Zeke, has the hots for. Sharpay Evans is one of the only girls other than the cheerleaders that goes out of her way to talk to me. I honestly think she doesn't know about my reputation because she never thinks about anything but herself ever or hears anything but what she wants to hear. She thinks of herself as the queen of East High. I honestly don't know what Zeke sees in her."

"And your other friend Jason, who does he like?" Gabriella asked. It would also help to know who the cheerleaders like."

"I don't know who Jason likes: Toy said surprised. "Liana's been acting like she likes me since I got back from holidays. I don't know why she's suddenly ignoring the rules but it might be because I didn't sleep with anyone else until Dad wanted me to go to the party the other night and I had too many jello shots. Emily is anybody's when she's drunk but sober I think she likes Brad. He's one of the seniors on the team. Kayla likes Zeke but he's not interested. I don't know about the rest" Troy answered slightly disturbed she wanted to know which boys were safe for her to like and hoping the situation with Liana didn't put her off.

They finished the first coat. "It's going to look great" Gabriella said enthusiastically. "Let's go down and get some lunch."

"I brought my own" Troy said grabbing his bag.

"Well bring it down too and we'll share" Gabriella suggested wrapping up the paint roller and brushes. "We've got at least an hour before we can put on the next coat."

Troy laughed "Okay."

"Great timing" Maria said as the appeared in the kitchen just as she took the brownies out of the oven.

Gabriella laughed pleased at this sign of approval of her friend. "You'll love them" she promised Troy. "We came down for lunch" she told her mother.

"Did you get the whole first coat done already?" Maria asked surprised. She got up and pulled several bought salads out of the fridge. "I'm afraid I haven't had time to cook" she apologised to Troy.

"It's fine Ms Montez. I didn't expect you to feed me" he said pulling out his salad sandwiches fruit and crackers.

"That's a very healthy lunch for a teenager" Maria commented.

"Dad has me on a pretty strict diet" Troy said calmly.

"And you stick to it?" Maria asked surprised.

Troy shrugged "When I'm home I do. There's no junk food in the house" he replied.

"Well I hope that won't stop you from enjoying my Brownies" Maria said.

Troy laughed, "Are you kidding? Knowing they're forbidden will make them taste even better" he said winking at Gabriella.

Maria and Gabriella laughed too. Maria was glad Troy had brought his own lunch as she watched him demolish what he'd brought, a large bowl of salads and several Brownies. "These are as amazing as Gabriella said they were. I think they could easily become my favourite food too" he complimented.

"I will admit I prefer baking Brownies to mowing lawns" Maria said a touch too innocently.

"Done" Troy agreed immediately. "I'll mow your lawn anytime you ask."

Gabriella laughed. "You've been cheated Troy. The boy in Atlanta used to charge twenty dollars and the yard wasn't as big as this one" she said.

Troy shrugged still happy with the deal he had. "That's coz he hadn't tasted these Brownies" he said smirking. "The edges are probably ready to put another coat on" he added getting up. "Thanks for the Brownies Ms Montez." Gabriella stayed in the kitchen to scold her mother. "How could you do that?" she asked. "What if our friendship doesn't work out?"

"I won't call to ask him unless you're okay with it" Maria reassured her. "It just sounded like his father's a little too strict with him and I wanted to give him the choice to earn a homemade treat if he wanted."

"His father coaches the basketball team Troy's captain of. Coach Bolton is determined Troy is going to win a basketball scholarship" Gabriella explained.

"Lawns don't grow much in Basketball season" Maria reminded her daughter unrepentantly.

Gabriella laughed. "I'd better get back up there and help" she told her mother.

It was fairly late by the time the third coat was finished. "We should have chosen the lighter green it might not have needed three coats" Gabriella groaned as she stretched out her sore muscles.

"Worse I think the edges might need a forth" Troy said looking at them.

"Hopefully it's just because the rollered bit isn't quite dry" Gabriella said.

"I've got to get home to cook dinner but I'll come around after dinner tonight and give it another coat" Troy promised.

"You don't have to do that Troy" Gabriella said smiling.

"One of two things will happen over dinner, either Mom won't be home for dinner again and Dad will be angry about it, or she will be home and they'll probably get into another argument. Either way I'll be glad of an excuse to get back out of the house" Troy explained. "I'd go crash at Chad's but Mom and Dad get angry about that too."

"Don't they like Chad's family?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah but they don't like the neighbours knowing their problems" Troy explained. "It's bad enough that Mrs Danforth used to feed me when Mom was too busy at work to shop and cook, and she used to wash my clothes sometimes too until she taught me how to do it myself."  
"Okay I'll see you after dinner then. Good luck" Gabriella said kissing him on the cheek.

"Bye Gabriella" Troy said kissing her cheek too.

"Bye Ms Montez" Troy called as he left the house.

"You should have invited him for dinner" Maria said "After all that work it's the least we could do."

"He had to go home in case his mom doesn't come home from work in time to cook" Gabriella said sadly.

"All this and he can cook too?" Maria asked jokingly.

"And he's house trained he does his own laundry and most of the housecleaning" Gabriella said trying to make a joke of it.

"Seriously?" Maria asked.

"He said his Mom works about a hundred hours a week half the time" Gabriella said.

"He was certainly very good at unpacking boxes for someone who hadn't moved house recently" Maria said thoughtfully.

"Try never. Troy was literally born in the house he lives in now" Gabriella said almost jealously.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, Siobhan, stordec23, iigothicxxxgirl666, raven1986 and DeeksKensiGetMarried for your support.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

"You should go and have a hot bath" Maria said seeing her daughter get up from the table stiffly.

"Troy said he'd come back and paint the edges one more time" Gabriella replied.

"Well it would be nice to have the job finished but I hope you told him he didn't have to do that" Maria said.

"Of course I did. He said he wanted to" Gabriella replied going to answer the doorbell.

"Hi Troy. Oh you forgot your stuff earlier" Gabriella said.

"I can't stay too late I promised Dad. Let's get the painting out of the way so we have time to relax after" Troy said.

"Are you going to be able to sleep in here with all the paint fumes?" Troy asked.

"I'll sleep in with Mom if I can't" Gabrielle reassured him.

Troy was tempted to offer to let her share his bed but didn't know how she'd take it. Not that her mother would let her anyway. Troy had been aware of Mrs Montez hovering in the background regularly during the afternoon and evening and didn't want to risk her overhearing something that would limit Gabriella's ability to invite him over in future.

"So you said your friends will look out for me. What have you told them about me?" Gabriella asked.

"Just that I met you on holiday and that I really like you and I was worried that you'd be bullied or get hurt because of your friendship with me" Troy explained. "They'll keep an eye out but probably won't be too friendly at first because being friends with all of us would be even worse for your reputation than just being friends with me."

"So you didn't tell them how we met?" Gabriella asked.

"**What? Oh, uh **not exactly**... my friends know about the snowboarding. I haven't quite told them about the singing thing"** Troy said nervously.

"**Too much for them to handle?"** Gabriella asked teasingly.

She was surprised to find that made him even more nervous.

"**No, it was cool. But, you know, my friends, it's, uh... It's not what I do. That was, like, a different person" **Troy babbled.

Gabriella sighed. "The problem is Troy that it's that different person I want to be friends with. Not Troy the Basketball player, or Troy the team captain, or Troy the super-popular guy, or Troy the player. I want to know the Troy who isn't afraid to take risks and try new things even if they don't fit with his image."

Troy sighed. "I know and I am trying to be that person. I want to be that person when I'm with you. It will take time to be more honest with my team. I did admit to Chad last week that I didn't enjoy the parties and the cheerleaders hanging all over me or the hook-ups."

"Well that's a start" Gabriella allowed smiling at him.

Troy finished the cutting in and cleaned up the brushes. "What do you want to do now?" he asked.

"I'd like to get out and get some fresh air and walk out some of the stiffness from painting. We could go for a walk and you could show me around the neighbourhood" Gabriella suggested.

"Sure I'll just get cleaned up. You won't want to be seen in public with a mess like this.

"I don't know" Gabriella said teasingly "you look good in Jade green."

"Ha ha" Troy replied "can I borrow your bathroom to change?"

"Sure do you want a shower?" Gabriella offered.

"Yes please if your Mom won't mind" Troy replied.

"Of course not. I'll grab you a clean towel"

Gabriella grabbed him a towel and went downstairs to warn her mother that Troy was in the shower. "He wanted to get cleaned up before he showed me around the neighbourhood."

"Why don't you use my bathroom to shower?" Maria suggested. "Thanks Mom"

Troy finished first and went downstairs looking for Gabriella.

"Hi Ms Montez have you seen Gabriella?" Troy asked.

"She borrowed my bathroom to clean up in. She should be down in a minute"

"I doubt it. She's a girl" Troy said cheerfully.

Maria laughed "we'll maybe it'll take a little longer. Can I get you a drink?"

"I'd like a glass of water please" Troy replied.

Maria returned with the water which Troy drank before Gabriella came down.

"Are you looking forward to starting your new job?" Troy asked politely.

"I am actually. It will be a new challenge" Maria said smiling.

"Will that mean a lot of overtime? Mom's challenges at work all seem to" Troy asked frowning.

"No it shouldn't. Is your mother self employed?" Maria asked.

"Yeah she said things would get easier once she got the business established but it never seems to. Every time she hires a new employee she says that she'll be able to take more time off but after a few weeks it doesn't make a difference" Troy said sighing.

"It's not easy to run a small business" Maria said.

"Yeah it doesn't help that Dad's not exactly well paid so she feels she needs to make enough money to support the family" Troy admitted.

Gabriella finally came downstairs. "I was about to give up on you" Troy teased.

"I'm sorry, I..." Gabriella began.

"Gabriella... chill" Troy said laughing.

They headed outside "Shall we walk towards the school?" Troy asked.

"I'd rather see where you live" Gabriella replied. "I'll see enough of the school tomorrow."

"Okay but if Dad's out the front we'll turn around. I don't want you to meet him yet" Troy said. He took Gabriella's hand in his and they walked companionably towards his house. Troy pointed out houses their class mates lived in as they passed them. They walked through the play park and Troy pointed out his house and Chad's. "Mom's home" Troy said seeing her car in the drive.

"You don't have to walk me back" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella it's dark out and you don't know the area. What kind of gentleman would I be if I left you here on the street" Troy protested.

"But your Mom..." Gabriella began anxiously.

"Has barely been home in days, she's probably eaten and gone straight to bed. If she's waiting to speak to me it won't hurt her to wait another half hour" Troy said calmly turned back towards Gabriella's new house.

"It seems a nice neighbourhood" Gabriella commented.

"Yeah it is" Troy said. "Once you know your way around you'd probably be pretty safe walking by yourself at this time of night if you had to. The other side of East High is a little less affluent but it's peaceful enough most of the time too."

"I like it" Gabriella said smiling. "And I like what I've heard about the school so far. Do you want to come in?" she asked as they reached her house.

"I'd better go" he said. "I'll come help you paint the windows next weekend."

"Bye Troy I'll see you at school tomorrow" Gabriella said smiling.

"Bye Gabriella" Troy said quietly kissing her on the cheek trying to ignore his feelings of imminent doom.

-o0o-

On Monday morning Gabriella was ready for school early and was nervously rebrushing her hair and checking her clothes wondering if she ought to change again when the doorbell rang. She heard her mother answer it and then footsteps climbing the stairs. "I'm ready Mom. Do I look okay?"

"You look beautiful" Troy replied.

Gabriella spun around astonished. "Troy" she exclaimed seeing him standing there. "Mom's taking me to school this morning."

"Yeah I know I just wanted to see you. To wish you well"

"Troy you'll see me at school. Did you come here to ask me to hide our friendship again?" she asked a little frustrated.

"No" Troy answered "I just wanted to see you one more time before it all became complicated. I really admire how much you stand up for what you believe in. I hope you don't regret being my friend"

Gabriella realised Troy had come over to mentally say goodbye because he still believed that once she heard all the rumours and saw what being his friend would mean she would change her mind and want nothing to do with him even away from school. She walked over and hugged him "Troy I want to be your friend. I will still want to be your friend tonight" she said quietly.

"I hope so" he answered equally quietly, "but don't make your mind up too quickly. Spend the day getting to know some people and see how they treat me before you make your decision."

"Okay Troy I will ring you tonight" Gabriella promised.

Troy smiled "I better get to school before I'm late" he said getting up. "Good luck with today."

Gabriella gave him a quick hug. "Bye Troy" she said smiling at him.

"**Troy! How ya doing, man?" **Chad greeted him as soon as he arrived not having seen him since he spoke to Gabriella on Sunday he wanted to know how things had worked out for his friend but this was not the place for a private conversation so he tried to pep Troy up.

"**Hey, Chad, what's up? Hey, guys, happy new year"** Troy said to the people he hadn't seen since he arrived home.

"**Yeah! It's gonna be a happy Wildcat new year Man because in two weeks we're going to the championships with you leading us to infinity and beyond!"** Chad replied. Apparently arriving back at school and seeing the crowds of red and white had re-aroused his team spirit. Troy was the only one of the jocks not wearing East High colours and some people uncharitably thought that it was because he wanted to attract attention by standing out visually from the rest of the team. The truth was Troy spent so much time practicing and being forced by his father and friends to think about basketball and so much of his life was dominated by it that he didn't want his clothes to remind him that he should be practicing more. It was his one small rebellion against his father's regimen. It also helped that his mother thought he looked terrible in red and refused to buy clothes that colour.

Someone started the team chant, exciting the rest of the crowd.

"**What team?**

"**Wildcats! **

"**What team?**

"**Wildcats! (cheering)**

Troy looked around to see if Gabriella had arrived yet and wondered what she'd think of his welcoming committee. He hoped it didn't scare her away.

"**The ice princess returned from the North Pole" **Zeke said as Sharpay pushed through them all.

**She spent the holidays the way she always does" **Chad began the joke he'd been preparing for the last week.

"**How's that?" **Jason asked playing the straight man in the joke**.**

"**Shopping for mirrors"** Chad finished making the rest of the team hoot with laughter.

"**Ugh, behold the zoo animals heralding the New Year, How tribal"** Taylor complained to her friends.

Several of them rolled their eyes they found it amusing how neither Taylor nor Chad could be anywhere near each other without trying to attract the others attention, Taylor with snide remarks and Chad with silly pranks. They were taking bets on whether relations between the two of them would end in violence or steamy making out... or both.

**(bell rings)**

"**Mom, my stomach..."** Gabriella complained as they walked along the now empty hallways after Maria and Gabriella completed and signed the necessary enrolment forms.

"**...Is always nervous on first day at a new school"** Maria completes calmly**. "You'll do great. You always do. I made my company promise that I can't be transferred again until you graduate."**

Gabriella rolled her eyes, her mother knew she didn't believe her. Why bother saying it again.

"**I reviewed your impressive transcripts. I expect your light will shine very brightly here at East High" **Mr Matsui the principle said smiling.

"**I don't want to be the school's freaky genius girl again"** Gabriella whined. Starting a new school always brought out the worst in her reducing her emotionally to a thirteen year old.

"**Just be Gabriella"** Maria said encouragingly.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Siobhan, old voldys gone moldy, Ceciliaa93, Stordec23, iigothicxxxgirl666, LaueeeCarter, Bethypie1998 and Birdie22 for your support.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Gabriella walked nervously in to homeroom just after the bell. She and her mother had met with the principle and received her schedule. Gabriella was relieved to learn that there were no new requirements she'd have to meet before graduation as there had been at her last school. The school was large and looked good condition with clean hallways and graffiti free notice boards full of activity announcements. It was also obvious from the posters that the basketball team was held in a place of pride. She grinned at the larger than life photo of Troy.

Troy looked up as the door opened and watched Gabriella walk in with a slight grin on his face.

Gabriella walked over to the teacher and handed over her enrolment paperwork hoping that she wouldn't be forced to introduce herself to the class.

"Very well Ms Montez welcome to East High, take a seat and we will start with announcements" the teacher Ms Darbus said.

Gabriella hurried to an empty seat in the back of the room flashing Troy a quick smile as she passed him. She listened to the announcements with an inner grin recalling Troy's description of the drama obsessed teacher.

"**I trust you all had splendid holidays. Check the sign-up sheets in the lobby for new activities, Mr Bolton",** Ms Darbus glared at Troy who wasn't paying attention.

"**Especially our winter musicale. We will have singles auditions for our supporting roles and pairs auditions for our two leads"**

Chad tried to flip Troy a note confirming that the new girl was his new friend from New Years Eve. Unfortunately he was almost caught drawing attention to the fact he'd brought his Basketball to class.

"**Mr, Danforth, this is a place of learning, not a hockey arena" **Ms Darbus scolded before continuing with the announcements. **"There is also a final sign-up for next week's scholastic decathlon competition. Chem Club president Taylor McKessie can answer all of your questions about that."**

She took note of the fact that auditions for the musicale were being held the following day and wished that she had the courage to audition.

Troy glanced back at Gabriella and noticed the longing expression on her face. He pulled out his phone and sent her a quick text under the desk.

"I'LL AUDITION IF YOU DO"

Troy could see the possibilities. If they both got parts in the musicale they would have a reason to hang out and become friends.

Unfortunately Gabriella had never been popular enough to have received texts at school from anyone except her mother who would never have text during class and therefore had not learned to put her phone on silent at the start of the day.

"**Ah, the cell phone menace has returned to our crucible of learning" **Ms Darbus said dramatically as several people pulled out their phones to see if they'd received a call.

"**We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class, so we will get to know each other in detention, Cell phone, And welcome to East High, Miss Montez"** Ms Darbus said holding out the empty paint tin for Gabriella to put her phone in.

Troy immediately moved his phone subtlety catching Ms Darbus attention to earn himself a detention with Gabriella,

"**Mr Bolton, I see your phone is involved, So we will see you in detention as well"**

The idea backfired a little though when Chad interrupted knowing how angry Coach Bolton would be if Troy missed practice **"That's not a possibility, Miss Darbus, Your Honour, see, 'cause we have basketball practice, and Troy...**

"**Ah, that will be 15 minutes for you too, Mr, Danforth, Count 'em"** Ms Darbus cut him off. Troy looked at Gabriella and Chad apologetically.

Taylor made a bitchy comment **"Could be tough for Chad. He can't count that high" **Unfortunately for her she didn't speak quietly enough.

"**Taylor McKessie, 15 minutes" **Taylor was obviously shocked to receive the detention but Gabriella was also shocked that the person Troy thought was the smartest in the class would make such a nasty comment, particularly when she remembered Troy telling her he believed Chad started most of their arguments because he fancied the girl.

"**Shall the carnage continue? Holidays are over, people. Way over! Now, any more comments, questions?"**

Gabriella wasn't sure she wanted to audition, this teacher was scary. She couldn't see how Troy thought her behaviour was funny especially when Troy said she had it in for him because of a long running feud with his father.

Troy decided to wait for Gabriella outside of homeroom. He had a quick word with Chad while he waited for her to come out confirming that Gabriella was his friend and asking for him to keep an eye out for her.

"Oh my God! I've never had detention before" Gabriella said shakily.

"I'm sorry Gabriella" Troy said guiltily.

"Why? Did you send me the text?" Gabriella asked.

"Um yeah! I didn't realise you wouldn't have your phone on silent" Troy said apologetically.

"Oh! What did the text say?" Gabriella asked.

"It wasn't important. Where's your next class and I'll show you the way" Troy said dismissively thinking that a couple of minutes in the hallway should be safe enough that Gabriella wouldn't be slammed to hard for talking to him. Gabriella silently handed over her timetable for Troy to check. He smiled and bowed "This way my lady" he said offering her his arm.

Gabriella giggled and clutched her books to her chest instead of taking it so Troy dropped his arm and walked slowly in the direction of Gabriella's math class. **"So, uh... anyway, welcome to East High"** he said showing Gabriella along the corridor**. "Now that you've met Miss Darbus, I bet you just can't wait to sign up for that,"** Troy said gesturing to the Musicale signup sheet.

"**I won't be signing up for anything for a while, I just want to get to know the school **for a while before I make decisions like that.** But if you sign up, I'd consider coming to the show"** Gabriella said teasingly.

"**Yeah, yeah. That's completely impossible"** Toy replied laughing. He wouldn't even consider it unless Gabriella signed up too.

"**What's impossible, Troy? I wouldn't think "impossible" is even in your vocabulary! Oh, so nice of you to show our new classmate around"** Sharpay interrupted their conversation.

Troy rolled his eyes at Gabriella while Sharpay continued to talk without giving either of them time to say anything.

"**Oh, were you going to sign up too? My brother and I have starred in all the school's productions and we really welcome newcomers. There are a lot of supporting roles. I'm sure we could find something for you"** she said condescendingly.

"**No, no, no, I was just looking at all the bulletin boards. Lots going on at this school. Wow. Nice penmanship"** Gabriella said sarcastically. She couldn't believe how arrogant the girl was to use the entire couples sign up space. Didn't other people normally sign up as well. It annoyed her so much she nearly signed herself and Troy up then and there without even asking him.This was definitely the self absorbed drama queen Troy had described yesterday. He'd pegged her pretty well, except for the fact Sharpay was clearly interested in dating Troy though Gabriella couldn't quite see why as she appeared to have no interest in Troy as an actual person.

"**So, Troy, I missed you during vacation, What'd you do?"** Sharpay asked making Gabriella wonder for a second if she'd read her wrong.

"**You know, um... played basketball, snowboarding, more basketball"** Troy rambled hoping he didn't upset Gabriella by not mentioning singing karaoke or meeting her. Gabriella noticed Troy's omission but was more angered by the fact that Sharpay wasn't even listening to him.

"**When's the big game?"** Sharpay asked still not paying attention to Troy's answers.

"**Two weeks"** Troy replied.

Sharpay realised that she didn't know what to say next because she didn't know what Troy had said. **"You are so dedicated. Just like me" **She simpered. "**I hope you come watch me in the musical. Promise?" **Sharpay demanded.

Troy made a noncommittal noise that may have been taken as an affirmative.

"**Toodles!" **Sharpay gave an affected little wave.

"**Toodles"** Troy said facetiously making Gabriella giggle.

-o0o-

Troy screwed up his courage as he and Chad were warming up before basketball practice wanting to be honest with his friend about singing with Gabriella **"So Dude, you know that uh school musical thing? Is it true you get extra credit just for auditioning?"** Troy asked Chad losing his nerve at the last minute.

"**Who cares?"** Chad replied casually not realising that this wasn't just some idle thought but something important to his friend.

"**It's always good to get extra credit... for college..."** Troy suggested.

"**Do you think LeBron James or Shaquille O'Neal auditioned for their school musical?"** Chad asked incredulously.

"**Maybe" **Troy replied upset that his friend was so unsupportive of the idea.

"**Troy, Look The music in those shows isn't hip-hop, okay or rock, or anything essential to culture, It's, like... show music, It's all costumes and makeup... Oh, dude, it's frightening"** Chad said shuddering.

If he weren't so serious Troy would have laughed at the faces Chad was pulling as he discussed musicals.

"**Yeah I know I just thought it might be a good laugh" **Troy said backing away from telling Chad that he wanted to audition with Gabriella with a sigh.

"**All right, Wildcats! Pair up! Let's go! Come on!" **Troy called the team to begin practice. Troy tried to concentrate but he was distracted by Gabriella and the possibility of auditioning for the Musicale. He'd never considered singing in public in the past but singing with Gabriella had felt really terrific and not only because he'd met Gabriella that night. He really wanted to try it again though doing it here where everyone knew him was a lot more nerve racking.

He was also thinking about Gabriella. He'd planned to keep tabs on her throughout the day and protect her if needed. But now he and Gabriella no longer had their phones so they couldn't contact each other in secret during the day. He worried about how she was going and if she was enjoying her classes. He almost couldn't wait for detention to see her again. She should be safe enough at the moment though nobody knew she was his friend yet.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the team chant signalling the end of practice. Seems as though his autopilot was okay though as Coach didn't seem to notice his distraction.

"**What team?"**

"**Wildcats!"**

"**What team?"**

"**Wildcats!"**

"**What team?"**

"**Wildcats!"**

"**Wildcats!"**

"**Get your head in the game!"**

-o0o-

**So, it seemed like you knew Troy Bolton**" Sharpay said trying to work out how much competition the girl could be to her campaign to date the king of east high. She also wanted to know why they were looking at the Musicale signup sheet when Troy had never shown any interest in theatre before. With his natural presence Troy would be a real threat if he had any acting or singing ability.

"**Not really, He was just showing me around" **Gabriella said paying more attention to her schoolwork than the idle chatter.

Sharpay gave a fake laugh. **"Well, Troy usually doesn't interact with new students."**

"**Uh, why not?" **Gabriella asked distractedly.

"**It's pretty much basketball 24/7 with him"** Sharpay said trying in her head to blame Troy's lack of interest in her on basketball as well as to make him seem less attractive as a friend to the new girl.

"**That should be 16 over pi..." **Gabriella murmured louder than she had intended, looking at the blackboard.

"**Yes, Miss Montez?"** the teacher asked.

Gabriella stammered surprised that the teacher had heard her. **"I'm sorry, I was just... Uh... Shouldn't the second equation read 16 over pi?" **she asked.

"**16 over pi? That's quite impossible"** the teacher scoffed trying to appear more confident than she felt. Having heard of the new student's reputation as a mathematics genius she quickly checked the equation with her calculator.

"**I stand corrected"** she said blushing. "**Oh... and welcome aboard"** she added.

Gabriella blushed and put her head down concentrating on her work for the rest of the class. Taylor watched the exchange and could hardly keep from smiling. The scholastic decathlon team was good at the language, general knowledge and humanities sections but lacked someone really gifted with mathematics and sciences to give them a real chance. It looked like the new girl had the skills they needed. Taylor hoped she would be interested.

-o0o-

"**Troy Bolton was looking at our audition list" **Ryan told his sister. Unlike Sharpay Ryan was well aware what a threat Troy would be to him if he auditioned. Watching the way he interacted with the cheerleaders Ryan noticed that Troy was a very convincing actor though his act slipped a little at times he managed to keep the cheerleaders from realising he despised them. He also believed that someone with Troy's footwork on the basketball court would probably also be able to pick up simple dance steps quite easily.

"**Again?"** Sharpay asked.

Ryan looked at her confused.

"**He was hanging around with that new girl and they were both looking at the list" **ranted Sharpay. "**There's something freaky about her. Where did she say she's from?** She dragged Ryan into the library to look Gabriella up.

Sharpay scoffed dismissively at the results they found, articles of Gabriella winning the scholastic decathlon in her previous schools and scholarships she'd won, but Ryan was impressed.** "Wow! An Einsteinette. So why do you think she's interested in our musical?** Ryan asked confused.

"**I'm not sure that she is. And we needn't concern ourselves with amateurs"** Sharpay tried to appear confident.

"**But... there is no harm in making certain that Gabriella's welcome to school activities that are...**

**... well, appropriate for her. After all... she loves pi" **Sharpay plotted to keep the new student busy and away from the musical and away from Troy. To be honest she quite likes the idea of Troy playing the male lead with her though she wouldn't admit that to Ryan. It would be an excellent way to secure his attention. There was nothing in Gabriella's history that she could find suggesting an ability to sing, dance or act which made her feel infinitely better but Troy seemed interested in her for some reason which was just intolerable.

-o0o-

Gabriella was mortified as she walked into detention in the auditorium. She'd never had detention before and she was worried that to receive one on the first day at her new school certainly wouldn't motivate her mother to keep her promise to stay in Albuquerque instead of accepting a transfer before she graduated after senior year. She hadn't seen Troy since he walked her to her first class and didn't have the courage to approach him now.

She quietly accepted paint from Ms Darbus and started work.

"**Gold! More gold! Paint, paint! Let's go!"** Ms Darbus issued orders as she walked around the stage supervising the painting of sets in detention that morning.

"**The answer is yes!"** Taylor said excitedly running in with her hand full of printouts of Gabriella's past achievements. Gabriella's heart sank.She'd hoped it would take a couple of months before anyone other than Troy cared enough to look her up.

"**Huh?"** Gabriella said wondering what question Taylor thought she was answering.

"**Our scholastic decathlon team has its first competition next week, and there is certainly a spot for you"**

"**Where did those come from?"** Gabriella asked confused and disappointed that her reputation had already been found out by the students. As she'd told Troy even moving didn't allow you to escape from who you were.

"**Didn't you put them in my locker?"** Taylor asked surprised.

"**Of course not"** Gabriella said wondering who had. She hoped it wasn't Troy, though if it was she knew he would have had the best intentions. He might have done it trying to help her make friends with the people he thought she would fit in well with.

"**Well, we'd love to have you on our team. We meet almost every day after school. Please?"** Taylor begged. Captaining the winning scholastic decathlon team would look great on her college applications and it would be wonderful to have a friend that was as smart as she was.

"**I need to catch up on the curriculum here before I think about joining any clubs"** Gabriella said not sure she wanted to make friends with someone who so clearly despised Troy and frequently ran him and his friends down.

"**Well, what a perfect way to get caught up, Meeting with the smartest kids in school, - What a generous offer, Taylor"** Sharpay came over gushing, trying to get Gabriella to accept.

'Why does Sharpay want me to join the scholastic decathlon team, what would she gain by it?' Gabriella thought puzzled.

"**So many new faces in detention today, I hope you don't make a habit of it, but the drama club can always use**

**an extra hand. And while we are working, let us probe the mounting evils of cell phones."**

Troy grinned at Gabriella as she conscientiously painted sets during their detention. He was half-heartedly stapling leaves to the tree and tickling Chad who had fallen asleep when his father burst into the auditorium yelling. He grabbed Chad and they hurried away to get ready for basketball practice hoping to be on the court before coach got back.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, old voldys gone moldy, Siobhan, ENDP, stordec23, chuck9828, stilldreamer888, vreadermd and guest for your support.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from the movie.

"**Come on, guys, huddle up! We got two weeks to the big game"** coach Bolton said intending to start the lunch time practice with a pep talk**. "Where's Troy and Chad?"** he asked noticing them missing. ** "Don't make me ask again. Where's Troy and Chad?!"** he shouted.

The team cringed **"Detention."**

**-o0o-**

"**Perhaps the most heinous example of cell-phone abuse is ringing in the theatre. What temerity! The theatre is a temple of art, - A precious cornucopia of creative energy"** Ms Darbus lectured dramatically, not seeming to notice that nobody was listening to her.

"**Where's my team, Darbus?" ** Jack Bolton burst into the auditorium shouting, getting even more angry when he saw Troy and Chad fooling around and snoozing. "**What the heck are those two doing in a tree?"**

"**It's called crime and punishment, Bolton! Besides, proximity to the arts is cleansing for the soul" **Ms Darbus replied.

Jack spoke through clearly gritted teeth trying not to undermine the authority of a colleague in front of the students no matter how angry he was with her at the time. **"Can we have a talk, please?" **He turned back to his son and son's best friend **"And you two, in the gym, now!"** he demanded.

Troy woke up Chad and pulled him out of the auditorium sending Gabriella an apologetic look.

-o0o-

"**If they have to paint sets for detention, they could do it tonight, not during practice"** Jack complained to the principle

"**If these were theatre performers, would you seek special treatment?"** Estelle Darbus argued, furious with the favouritism routinely shown the basketball team.

"**Darbus, we are days away from our biggest game of the year"** Jack exclaimed frustrated that she couldn't see that the basketball championship was important to the whole school's reputation not just his and the teams.

"**And we, Bolton, are in the midst of our auditions for our winter musicale as well!"** Estelle said as if it was the same level of importance.** "This school is about more than just young men in baggy shorts flinging balls for touchdowns!**

"**Baskets! They shoot baskets"** Jack shouted.

Mr Matsui wondered for a moment whether the way the drama teacher mixed up sports terms as if she knew nothing about any of them was deliberate. Regardless he had to intervene before one of them said something that would escalate their feud to the next level. "**Stop! Guys, listen, you've been having this argument since the day you both started teaching here. We are one school, one student body, one faculty! Can we not agree on that?"** he asked wondering if it was possible to put his teachers in detention.

"**So, Coach, how's the team lookin'? Troy got 'em whipped into shape?"** he asked.

"**Oh!" **Estelle threw her arms in the air and stormed out of the office, so angry she forgot that she'd left students in detention.

-o0o-

"**West High Knights have knocked us out of the playoffs three years running, and now we are one game away from taking that championship back from 'em! It's time to make our stand. The team is you. You are the team. And this team does not exist unless each and every one of you is fully focused on our goal, Am I clear?"** Jack Bolton gave the start of practice pep talk before signalling Chad to run the chant to hype up the team to practice a little harder.

**Hey, what team?!**

**Wildcats!**

**What team?**

**Wildcats!**

**What team?**

**Wildcats!**

**Wildcats!**

**Get your head in the game!**

They got stuck into practice and Troy was able to keep his mind on their practice game but his mind began to wander during the drills and he ended up being sent back to run it again. He was worried about Gabriella, she seemed really upset when he saw her at the start of detention, and unhappy when Taylor confronted her.

-o0o-

"**We've never made it past the first round of the scholastic decathlon. You could be our answered prayer"** Taylor said as they walked out of detention together, having been the only two who'd stayed the whole 15 minutes instead of leaving as soon as Ms Darbus left the auditorium.

"**I'm focusing on my studies this semester, and help my mom get the new house organized. Maybe next year"** Gabriella said.

"**But..." **Taylor began.

"**What do you know about Troy Bolton?"** Gabriella interrupted.

"**Troy? Hmm, I wouldn't consider myself an expert on that particular sub-species. However, unless you speak cheerleader, as in, "Oh, my gosh! Isn't Troy Bolton just the hottie super-bum?" **Taylor pretended to gush as they walked past the cheerleaders.

"**Oh, he's so beautiful" **gushed Emily.

The other cheerleaders enthusiastically agreed thought their comments were far less innocent and in Liana's case quite possessive.

"**Ha-ha, See what I mean?" **Taylor said smirking.

"**I guess I don't know how to speak cheerleader"** Gabriella replied, thinking about how Troy told her he was glad she wasn't like these girls and how much he despised them.

"**Which is why we exist in an alternate universe to Troy the basketball boy"** Taylor said derisively.

"**Have you tried to get to know him?" **Gabriella asked upset that Taylor would judge Troy so harshly without even trying to get to know him.

"**Watch how it works tomorrow when you have lunch with us. Unless you'd rather sit with the cheerleaders and discuss the importance of firm nail beds"** Taylor said shocked at her hopefully new friend's naiveté. Surely people like her did not mix with Jocks in her other schools either.

"**My nail beds are history"** Gabriella said showing her hands. Clearly she would not fit in with the cheerleaders either and from what Troy had told her she wouldn't want to. Maybe she should give Taylor and her friends another chance, it would be better than eating alone."

"**Sister!" ** Taylor exclaimed.

-o0o-

Troy was tempted to try to keep an eye on Gabriella during the day though unfortunately they didn't have any classes together except for Homeroom at the start of the day. He darted around between classes trying to spot her in the hallways but was unsuccessful.

**-o0o-**

"**I still don't understand this detention thing" **Jack grumbled as he and Troy had an extra training session at home that evening.

Troy winced wondering what had happened once Dad and Darbus had spoken privately because his father while angry did not seem more furious **"It was my fault. Sorry, Dad"**

"**Cross court"** Jack ordered.

"**You know Darbus will take any opportunity to bust my chops and that includes yours too"** Jack lectured. Troy rolled his eyes very aware that Darbus wasn't always the fairest teacher where he was concerned but surely 15 minutes of detention when he'd done the wrong thing wasn't such a huge issue. He hadn't been singled out.

"**Hey, Dad? Did you ever want to try something new, but were afraid of what your friends think?"** Troy asked.

"**Like, going left? You're doing fine come on"** Jack said encouragingly, the idea that Troy wasn't talking about basketball not even entering his mind.

"**Well... no... I mean, what if you wanna try something really new and it's a total disaster and all your friends laugh at you?"** Troy tried again hesitantly, needing some advice but not wanting to anger his father.

"**Then maybe they're not really your friends. That was my whole point about team today, you gotta look out for each other. You're the leader. There's gonna be college scouts at our game next week. Know what a scholarship is worth these days?"** Jack asked dismissing whatever Troy was talking about and trying to get him to concentrate on Basketball.

Troy sighed saddened by the fact that once again his father didn't seem to care about him except when he was playing Basketball. "**A lot"** he said resignedly.

"**Yeah, Focus, Troy, come on" **Jack said forcefully.

-o0o-

It was late before Troy could call Gabriella that night. His father was angry with him and had him out practicing until his mom arrived home well after dark. There was no opportunity for Troy to slip away to visit Gabriella.

"Hi Troy" Gabriella greeted him "I thought you were going to come over?" she asked.

Hearing the insecurity in her voice Troy swore mentally. "I wanted to Gabriella. I'm sorry but Dad and I were training til nearly half past nine and then I helped Mom cook dinner when she got home" he tried to explain.

"Because of the detention?" Gabriella asked.

"Maybe. He was really angry about it" Troy answered flatly. "But it could also have been because Mom didn't get home until after nine."

"I'm sorry Troy" Gabriella apologised.

"What for? It was my fault. I'm the one who text you in class" Troy said surprised.

"Yeah but you expected I'd be smart enough to have my phone on silent" Gabriella said. "I promise it won't happen again."

"Gabriella chill!" Troy said chuckling.

"Troy did you put those papers in Taylor's locker?" Gabriella asked.

"No of course not. I didn't even know you'd won all those awards" Troy replied. "Why?"

"You didn't Google me?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"Well no! It didn't seem right to go looking for information on you behind your back when I was keeping stuff secret from you" Troy explained. "Besides I was enjoying getting to know you without my reputation getting in the way of that. You deserved the same opportunity."

"Thank you" Gabriella said touched by Troy's consideration.

"Why did you think I might have done it?" Troy asked not sure whether he was hurt by her reaction.

"Well you told me you thought Taylor was the smartest person in the junior class. I thought if you'd looked me up and found out how smart I am you might have given them to Taylor to help me make friends" Gabriella explained.

"Well I might have thought it was a good idea if I'd looked you up, but I wouldn't have done it without telling you" Troy said. "Who else do you think might have done it?" Troy asked. "No offence but nobody else really knows you yet."

Gabriella thought hard for a moment remembering what had happened. "When I started to turn Taylor down Sharpay came over and said some things to Taylor to encourage her. It seemed strange at the time that she seemed to want me to accept. The problem is she'd be the last person I could imagine researching backgrounds of new students and what possible reason could she have for wanting me to join the scholastic decathlon team? She's not involved in it is she?" Gabriella asked.

"No she's not that academically minded. Sharpay doesn't stick her nose into other people's business like that without a reason" Troy said. "If she did it then it has to benefit her directly in some way."

"Yes. That was my impression too, but how could whether or not I join the scholastic decathlon team possibly have anything to do with Sharpay?" Gabriella asked.

"I have no idea" Troy said trying to think of a reason the self absorbed blond would be interested in any new student, Gabriella in particular or the scholastic decathlon team. "Have you had any other run-ins with her?"

"She was asking me about you showing me around in math today too" Gabriella said. "She told me you don't have time for anything but basketball."

"Maybe that's it, she wants you to make friends with people other than me, particularly to spend time with someone who's known to dislike basketball players" Troy suggested.

"She wants to go out with you" Gabriella said.

Troy shrugged then realised Gabriella couldn't see it. "I know but even if I was allowed to date and she was the only girl at East High I wouldn't ask her out" he said.

"I know. I don't know how you'd get her to realise that though" Gabriella said laughing.

"Can you come over tomorrow afternoon?" Gabriella invited.

Troy mumbled something non-committal.

"You don't have to" Gabriella said hurt.

Troy sighed "Gabriella I do want to come over but I don't know if I'll be forgiven that easily, Dad's likely to have me out practicing most of the evening again" he said tiredly.

"If you want to get some homework done before he gets home you could study here" Gabriella offered.

"Believe me I'd love to. I have to do some laundry but if I get up early enough to get it done before school then I'll come over after practice at school" Toy said more cheerfully. "Do you still want me to pick you up tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"Yes Troy I want to be your friend I'm not going to hide what you mean to me" Gabriella said patiently. She knew Troy was only concerned about her but she was starting to get frustrated with his over protectiveness. She hadn't received any really negative comments about having been seen with Troy after homeroom today so she thought Troy might be exaggerating the problem.

-o0o-

Troy was up early next morning and put a load of washing on before he left for his run. Pushing himself to run faster than usual he was back as the load finished and put it across into the drier and started another load before going up to shower.

"Troy do you have to run the washer at 5.30 in the morning?" his mother asked crankily as he entered the kitchen for breakfast.

"Sorry Mom but with the training routine Dad's got going at the moment I don't have any other time to do it" Troy said unrepentantly.

"It woke your father and I up" Lucille complained.

"Well considering it was your laundry, and Dad forces me to get up that early to run before school every day and that I'm the only guy on the team that does his own laundry let alone his parents I'd say if you don't want me to wash your clothes at 5.30 you shouldn't leave them for me to do" Troy replied frustrated. "You might also want to talk to Dad about the fact I'm gonna fail all my subjects if he doesn't start giving me some time to study. I've got to go. I'm meeting a friend."

He arrived at Gabriella's door gnawing on an apple core. "Hey Ms Montez, is Gabriella ready for school?" he asked cheerfully as she answered the door.

"Not quite Troy. You're early" Ms Montez replied. "Come in. Would you like a drink? Or another apple?"

"Yes Please" Troy replied grinning. "Where's your bin?" he asked.

"In the cupboard under the sink" Maria replied.

Troy opened the cupboard and found the bin almost full. He added his apple core and tied the bag up. "I'll just take this outside for you" he said heading out the back door.

"Thank you Troy" Maria said smiling. "Did you want milk or juice?"

"Milk please" Troy said helping himself to an apple.

"I see I'm going to have to stock up the pantry if you're going to be spending time here" Maria said laughing.

"Oh no, I don't steal food and you don't have to offer to feed me. There's always food in my bag if I get hungry" Troy said smiling. "I warn you I will eat anything I'm offered but I don't want you to feel obligated to offer."

"I'll take that under advisement" Maria laughed again.

Gabriella hurried downstairs "Mom?" she called.

"In the kitchen with Troy" Maria called back.

"Oh hey Troy, sorry I'm not ready" Gabriella said.

"It's cool" Troy said finishing his milk and getting up to rinse out the glass.

"Your mother has you well housetrained" Maria said.

Troy shrugged "yeah well, someone's got to do it."

Gabriella hurried back in "Okay I'm ready" she said. "Bye Mom."

"Bye Gabriella, Bye Troy. Have a good day" Maria replied gathering up her keys and handbag. "Are you sure you two don't want a lift to school?"

"No thanks Mom. I want to learn my way around the neighbourhood" Gabriella said.

"So we could walk or the school bus stops just there" Troy said pointing out the bus stop a couple of doors down from Gabriella's house. He glanced at his watch "it should be here any minute" he added.

"Let's walk this morning if we have time" Gabriella decided.

"Yeah the bus isn't much quicker than walking and it gets in about ten to fifteen minutes before homeroom starts" Troy responded.

"Is it the same bus you normally catch?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah" Troy confirmed "if I don't catch a ride in early with Dad."

"So you don't have to walk to my place. We could just catch the bus together" Gabriella suggested.

"Sure" Troy agreed. "But there's no privacy to talk on the bus. And I've been riding with Chad since we started kindergarten."

Gabriella laughed. "Is he going to be upset to be abandoned?" she asked.

Troy shrugged "He'll get over it" he said smiling. He took her hand as they walked and Gabriella told him about the classes she had had the day before and what she had scheduled that day and Troy gave her advice about the teachers he knew. They both thought about the Musicale auditions but were nervous about bringing the subject up because they weren't sure they wanted to audition. As they got closer to school Troy let go of her hand and Gabriella let him. She was saddened but understood he thought he was doing it for her own good. 'One day Troy Bolton, you will see I don't need you to protect me like this' she thought. She accompanied Troy into the school where he introduced her to his friends.

"Guys I'd like you to meet Gabriella. Gabriella this is Jason, Zeke and Chad".

"Pleased to meet the girl who can make Troy go gaga" Jason said shaking her hand.

Gabriella laughed. "He doesn't seem gaga to me" she replied.

"Oh believe me you've made quite an impression on Troy" Zeke confided taking her hand and bowing over it like a regency suitor. "He had us lie to Coach Bolton so he could go and meet you on Friday."

"Troy's told me how unreasonable his Dad's been lately. I'm glad his friends have his back" Gabriella responded smiling at him.

"It's good to meet you Gabriella" Chad said before leaning in and adding quietly. "If you hurt him we will make you wish you'd never come to Albuquerque."

Gabriella looked Chad straight in the eyes. "I will never hurt him on purpose" she promised.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, Siobhan, iigothicxxxgirl666, stordec23, LaueeeCarter and StephanieAlice for your support.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from High School Musical 1.

Taylor stopped astonished as she saw Gabriella talking to the four Basketball players. It appeared that Troy Bolton was introducing her to his friends. Clearly Gabriella knew Troy, Why then was she asking about him yesterday? It was a puzzle Taylor was determined to solve. More important than that though her new friend needed to be warned of the dangers of being seen hanging around with the basketball team.

Further along the hallway Liana was fuming. She'd thought it was just coincidence that the new girl had been walking beside Troy when she saw him crossing the school grounds but when he stopped and she was greeted by the other juniors on the team she saw red.

"That bitch needs to be told Bolton is off limits" she said furiously.

"And Bailey, Danforth and Cross as well" Melissa added.

The other cheerleaders nodded. "We'll all keep an eye out and as soon as she's alone or in the bathroom we'll warn her off.

Troy stopped and posted something in one of the lockers as he walked Gabriella to hers and then to homeroom. "What was that?" Gabriella asked.

"An insurance policy" Troy replied. "That's Liana's locker and I sent her a copy of the photo I showed you and warned her what would happen if she doesn't leave you alone. Come on we don't want to be late for Homeroom or Darbus will give us another detention."

"**Well I expect we all learned our homeroom manners yesterday, people, correct? If not, we have some dressing rooms that need painting"** Ms Darbus threatened as homeroom started.

"**Now, a few announcements. This morning during free period will be your chance for the musicale auditions, both single and pairs. I will be in the theatre until noon for those of you bold enough to extend the wingspan of your creative spirit..."**

"**When's she due back on the mother ship? **Chad asked Troy quietly.

Troy smirked but didn't turn around and reply. His father would kill him if he earned another detention.

-o0o-

"**What's up, man? **Chad said as he met up with Troy at the end of second period.

"**What's up? **Troy replied smiling at his friend.

"**So the whole team's hitting the gym during free period, What should we run?" **Chad asked.

"**I can't make it, I gotta catch up on some homework"** Troy said cursing himself for not being able to think of a better excuse. He ignored the little voice and jab of guilt that told him that he ought to trust his best friend enough to tell him the truth.

"**What? Hello, it's only the second day back. I'm not even behind on homework yet, and I've been behind on homework since preschool"** Chad scoffed wondering what his friend was up to.

"**That's hilarious, I'll catch you later"** Troy said rushing off.

"**Homework? There's no way" **Chad said to himself shaking his head surely he didn't need to lie about it if he was hoping to spend some private time with his new friend. He was worried Troy was still thinking of auditioning for Darbus' Musicale in spite of having believed he'd successfully discouraged him yesterday.

-o0o-

Liana found the envelope in her locker at the start of free period. It was marked with her name and the words "for your own sake do not open unless you are alone." The writing looked familiar but she could not place it. Curious she hurried to the bathroom and closed herself in a cubical to open the letter. It contained a print out of a photograph of her naked with a topless girl lying on top of her with her mouth close to her breasts.

Liana stared at the photograph in horror wondering who had sent it to her and what they were planning to do with it. She turned it over and read the warning on the back. "I'm warning you Liana if you or your friends hurt Gabriella Montez in any way I will send every student in Junior and Senior year a copy of this picture and the other three pictures I took of your friends in similarly compromising situations."

Well that answered what they were planning to do. But whoever this Gabriella girl was she was sure she hadn't been at any party she'd been to lately. Who could have taken this picture and sent her this warning.

Liana thought back examining the photo closely. That looked like the couch in Breanna's lounge room. The only people there were the basketball guys and the other cheerleaders.

She tore the photo up and flushed the pieces before joining her friends.

"Who the hell is Gabriella Montez?" Liana asked as she sat down.

"She's the new girl that was hanging out with Troy, Chad Zeke and Jason this morning. The one we're going to warn off when we find her" Jess said angrily.

"No we can't" Liana said.

"What are you talking about Liana? This girl's hanging out with Troy. You're going to let her?" Kayla asked incredulously.

"Troy" Liana exclaimed her face reddening. "I can't believe he'd do that to me."

"He's not your boyfriend. You know Troy doesn't do exclusive" Breanna said bluntly.

"No someone sent me a blackmail note threatening to send photo's to the whole school if any of us hurt Gabriella Montez" Liana said.

"Are the photo's that bad?" Melissa asked eager for gossip about her friend.

"Yeah at the party the other night Emily and I both fell asleep on Troy. But he woke up early to go home and when he wriggled out from underneath us both Emily ended up lying on me" Liana said quietly. "The photo looks as if we're together."

"Oh My God" squealed Jess.

"He or she said he has compromising photo's of all of us" Liana added.

"He who?" Kayla asked.

"Troy" Emily said quietly. "He's the only one who could have taken that photo. By the time everyone else woke up I'd fallen off the couch."

"Troy wouldn't do this to me" Liana screeched in disbelief.

"Why not? Breanna asked. "Did you think you were his favourite? He's told you he doesn't have favourites and if we started acting all possessive he'd drop us from his fuck list."

"I'm the only one he's been with since he got back from holiday" Liana stated.

"The only one of us. Troy often used to approach other girls at parties before we started jumping on him before he had the chance" Kayla said. "When's the last time he approached you for sex?"

All the girls thought for a moment and shook their heads.

"I can't remember him approaching me or any of you. I've always approached him. Troy doesn't play favourites" Jess said, "he almost takes turns to make sure nobody starts to think he's more interested in them than the others."

"You're right Jess. He only chooses one of us when more than one of us approach him at a time. I didn't think about it but he hasn't approached me in months" Breanna said thoughtfully, surprised by the revelation.

"He obviously knew this girl before she moved here. Maybe he took the photo so he could use it to protect her" Emily suggested.

"So we should leave this Gabriella girl alone" Melissa said.

"Please" Emily added.

"I vote we leave her alone. We don't know what other photo's he has" Jess said.

"I agree" Kayla said. "It's our job as cheerleaders to support the team and if this girl means that much to Troy that he's willing to blackmail us to stop us from harassing her then we should leave her alone for his sake."

"But Troy belongs to...us" Liana said.

"Are you willing to risk having that photo all over the school?" Breanna asked her.

"Troy wouldn't do that" Liana scoffed.

"Troy has a habit of doing what he says he will do" Melissa reminded her.

"Please Liana leave her alone" Emily begged. "Our lives will be ruined if that photo comes out."

"Majority rules. It's six against one. If you threaten her and it backfires don't expect any support from us" Jess said firmly.

"I'm your captain" Liana said angry at their rebellion.

"If the teachers see that photo you'll be kicked off the team" Kayla reminded her, getting up to walk away.

The others all followed leaving Liana fuming.

-o0o-

Troy arrived in the theatre and hid himself away off the side of the stage away from the entrance. Ms Darbus was just starting to speak.

"**This is where the true expression of the artist is realized. Where inner truth is revealed through the actor's journey..." **Ms Darbus' dramatic statement was interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing. **"Was that a cell phone?"** she asked angrily.

"**No, ma'am, That was the warning bell" **Kelsi said

"**Those wishing to audition must understand that time is of the essence. We have many roles to cast and final callbacks will be next week. First, you will sing a few bars and I will give you a sense of whether or not the theatre is your calling, Better to hear it from me now than from your friends later. Our composer, Kelsi Nielson will accompany you and be available for rehearsals prior to callbacks. Shall we?"**

Troy rolled his eyes at the eccentric teacher's dramatics. Working with her would be one of the downsides to getting a part in the Musicale. She and his father had some crazy feud going on and he didn't want to put himself in the middle of it any more than he already was.

He listened to the first few auditions. The performances gave him confidence surely he could do better than that. On the other hand Ms Darbus remarks made him hesitate to try.

"**Alan, I admire your pluck. As to your singing... That's a wonderful tie you're wearing, Next!" ** Troy cringed. Alan had been terrible but he didn't deserve the sarcasm.

"**Ah... Cindra. What courage to pursue a note that has not been accessed in the natural world. Bravo! Brava! Perhaps the spring Musicale" **

"**Hey! So you decided to sign up for something?"**Gabriella asked, coming up behind him.

"**Uh... No, You?"** Troy asked.

"**No, Um... why are you hiding behind a mop? Your friends don't know you're here, right?"** Gabriella asked dryly. "Troy if you're going to audition you need to tell your friends about it."

Troy sighed "I tried Gabriella. Chad went off about how it was a terrible idea and I backed down."

"So you told him you were thinking about auditioning?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah. I mentioned that you get extra credit for auditioning" Troy replied.

"You didn't tell him that you were serious or why you were interested or even that you actually wanted to audition properly and get a part not just go through the motions because it'd look good on your college applications" Gabriella said. "No wonder he thought he could talk you out of it."

"You're right" Troy agreed. "I should have told him it was important to me. I can't expect him to have my back if I'm not honest about needing it."

"Will you need him to have your back?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"If I auditioned I would" Troy said. "Dad doesn't want me to be involved in any other extracurricular activities and he can't talk to Darbus without them fighting. He's going to hate it even if I don't get a part."

"**Well, that was just... very disturbing. Go see a counsellor. Uhh"** Estelle Darbus said shuddering.

"**Ms Darbus is a little... harsh"** Troy said glad he hadn't put his name on the signup sheet and committed himself.

"**The Wildcat superstar's afraid?" **Gabriella said half surprised and half teasingly.

"**No! I'm not afraid"** he tried to deny. "**I... I'm just... scared"** Troy admitted feeling the need to be honest with Gabriella.

"**Me too... usually" **Gabriella agreed.

"**And for the lead roles of Minnie and Arnold we only have one couple signed up. Sharpay and Ryan, I think it might be useful for you to give us a sense of why we gather in this hallowed hall"** Ms Darbus said flatteringly.

**What key?"** Kelsi asked relieved that this couple knew what they were doing and wouldn't make such a hash of her music. She was really looking forward to hearing the song sung properly after all the poor attempts that morning.

**Oh, we had our rehearsal pianist do an arrangement"** Ryan said embarrassed and only now realising how rude it was to change around a song without asking and perform it in front of its composer.

"**Oh"** Kelsi replied confused and slightly offended. She listened horrified to the boppy jazzed up version of her song. All the depth of emotion was lost in their rendition. She almost preferred some of the off key earlier renditions.

"**I told you not to do the jazz squares" **Sharpay snapped as the song finished while trying to smile at the audience.

"**It's a crowd favourite. Everybody loves a good jazz square" **Ryan argued frustrated. They'd been through this a dozen times in practice the jazz squares worked well and he thought the song needed them but Sharpay as always insisted on doing everything her way. 'Well she couldn't tell him how to dance' he thought angrily while still smiling.

Troy watched in surprise. If this overly dramatic performance was what Ms Darbus was looking for he and Gabriella had no hope of getting a part. He just wasn't egotistical enough to pose like that no matter what his detractors said. And it looked and sounded so fake. It actually didn't look like either one of the Evan's twins were actually enjoying singing or had thought about the words to that song at all. If this is what their performance was going to be like Troy wouldn't bother coming to see the show.

"**Are there any last-minute sign-ups?"** Ms Darbus called hopefully. While she enjoyed the performance just put on by her two favourite students she really wanted some better choices to cast in the minor roles.

"**Don't be discouraged. The theatre club needs more than singers. It needs fans too. Buy tickets!"** Ryan said condescendingly, sure he and Sharpay would be given the lead roles.

Kelsi took a deep breath and screwed up her courage. She had to try and save her song. She approached Sharpay. **"Oh, actually, if you do the part with that particular song, I imagined it much slower..."** she began.

"**lf we do the part?"** Sharpay asked incredulously.** "Kelsi, my sawed-off Sondheim, I've been in 17 school productions! And How many times have your compositions have been selected?"**

"**This would be the first"** Kelsi admitted.

"**Which tells us what?"** Sharpay asked patronisingly.

"**That I need to write you more solos?"** Kelsi suggested nervously.

"**No, It tells us that you do not offer direction, suggestion or commentary. And you should be thankful that me and Ryan can lift your music out of its obscurity,- Are we clear?"** Sharpay ordered nastily.

"**Yes, ma'am, I mean, Sharpay"** Kelsi stuttered completely intimidated.

Sharpay lifted the microphone back to her mouth. **"Nice talking to you"** she said sweetly for her audience.

Kelsi watched her go with a heavy heart. She was the only female to audition that was halfway decent and Ms Darbus seemed to like her performance so she was sure to be chosen. She shuddered at the thought of having to work with her for months until the production, and watch the blond destroy all of her precious songs. She wished she'd never composed the songs for this musicale.

"**Any last-minute sign-ups?"** Ms Darbus called. Kelsi prayed that someone would come forth and sing in tune to save her music from what that blonde monster would do to it.

"**We should go" **Troy said to Gabriella.

"**No? Good. Done" **Ms Darbus said picking up her things.

"**I'd like to audition, Miss Darbus" **Gabriella said entering the auditorium.

Troy stood there in shock. He'd thought they'd decided not to audition.

Ms Darbus looked up astonished. In truth she had a headache after all the off key auditions and didn't think she could face another one. And after hearing Sharpay's rendition she was sure she was the right person for the part and couldn't see the point in auditioning someone else. "**Timeliness means something in the world of theatre, young lady. The individual auditions are long over and there are simply no other pairs."**

"**I'll sing with her"** Troy said entering the auditorium frustrated that Ms Darbus was being unfair, but also slightly glad that he'd found the courage to support his friend.

**Troy Bolton? Where is your sports posse or whatever it's called?"** Ms Darbus asked sarcastically.

"**Team"** Troy corrected her. "**But I'm here alone. Actually, I'm here to sing with her."**

"**Yes, well, we take these shows very seriously here at East High. I called for the pairs audition, and you didn't respond. Free period is now over"** Ms Darbus said dismissively also slightly dishonestly there was enough time for at least one or two more auditions.

"**She has an amazing voice" ** Troy said upset that Gabriella wasn't being given an opportunity and wondering if it was because of him and the feud his father had going on with the drama teacher.

"**Perhaps the next musicale"** Ms Darbus said declining to give the couple a chance to audition and walking out of the auditorium. She told herself that it had nothing to do with the fact that Gabriella's partner was Jack Bolton's son the golden boy of East High but deep inside she felt satisfaction in denying the boy something he wanted.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Siobhan, Ceciliaa93, stordec23, iigothicxxxgirl666, ENDP, severusandedwardwifey, Ketmie and stinecorey for your support.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

Troy took Gabriella's hand and prepared to apologise when he heard someone fall on the stage. Kelsi's eyes were full of tears at hearing the last chance of her songs being performed properly stolen away and she missed the edge of the piano. Troy raced up to help and found a girl he'd seen around but never tried to speak to, picking up pages of music.

"**So, you're a composer? You wrote the song Ryan and Sharpay just sang? And the entire show? Well, that's really cool. I can't wait to hear the rest of the show"** Troy said sincerely.

Kelsi smiled weakly and nodded.

**So, why are you so afraid of Ryan and Sharpay? I mean, it is your show"** Troy asked.

"**It is?"** Kelsi asked wanting to believe it but unable to see how it could be when it seemed she had no say in how her compositions were sung.

"**Isn't the composer of a show kind of like the playmaker in basketball?"** Troy asked.

**Playmaker?" **Kelsi asked unfamiliar with the team.

**You know the one who makes everyone else look good. Without you there is no show. You're the playmaker here, Kelsi"** Troy encouraged her.

"**I am? Do you want to hear how the duet's supposed to sound?" **Kelsi said eagerly.

Troy and Gabriella nodded smiling and Kelsi began to play.

Troy sang the now familiar words with feeling. This song exactly described how he felt about Gabriella and the changes she'd made in his life. He now had a friend he could be completely himself around without worrying if she'd accept him. Gabriella also felt the song described how wonderful a friend Troy had become and how important he was to her.

The depth of feeling and the perfect harmony in their singing made Kelsi smile. This was exactly how she'd hoped her music would sound. It was a pity Ms Darbus hadn't given them a chance. Maybe she could talk to her about it after school.

"**Wow, That's nice"** Troy said smiling. If Kelsi hadn't seen the heated glances he exchanged with Gabriella while singing she would have thought he was flirting with her. Then again given his reputation maybe he was. She smiled anyway in appreciation for his admiration of her song.

"**Bolton, Montez - you have a callback. Kelsi, give them the duet from the second act. Work on it with them"** Ms Darbus called sticking her head back into the theatre. She felt guilty that she'd almost deprived her Musicale of such great performers through her own prejudices.

Kelsi grinned. **"All right. If you guys wanna rehearse, I'm usually here during free period and after school, and even sometimes during biology class. You can come and rehearse anytime, or come to my house for breakfast, I have a piano, we can rehearse there. After school, before school – whatever works, After basketball class..." **she rambled delightedly wanting to make rehearsing as convenient as possible for the couple who appreciated her music.

Troy looked at the sheet music Kelsi gave him as if it was written in parseltongue, which it may as well have been for all the sense the notes made to him.** "What?"** he asked himself quietly wondering how this had happened.

-o0o-

Taylor and Gabriella both had physics immediately before lunch though they weren't able to talk in class as the teacher had assigned seating and they were on the opposite sides of the room. They met up after class and walked towards the cafeteria together.

"I saw you hanging out with Troy Bolton this morning. I didn't realise you knew him?" Taylor said questioningly.

"Yeah I met him in Colorado at the ski Lodge over Christmas break" Gabriella said. "He's really nice."

"He has a terrible reputation" Taylor said bluntly. "The only girls he hangs out with are the cheerleaders and everyone knows he's sleeping with all of them. They say he never takes anyone on a second date if they don't have sex on the first date."

"And how many girls do you know he's been on a date with?" Gabriella asked.

Taylor looked taken aback. "No one would be willing to admit it" she said.

"There aren't any. I don't know how that rumour got started. Troy doesn't date" Gabriella said blushing at her boldness. "He's never been on a date with a single girl at this school much less refused to take someone on a second date because they wouldn't have sex."

"That's what he told you" Taylor scoffed.

"I'd believe him over gossip" Gabriella said firmly "Especially gossip you admit you can't substantiate."

"He doesn't need to date when he's sleeping with six different girls anytime he wants" Taylor said cattily.

"I knew about the cheerleaders" Gabriella agreed nodding. "Troy didn't lie to me about that either. He's my friend Taylor" she said determinedly.

"Well be careful Gabriella. The cheerleaders can be pretty vicious when protecting their turf and like it or not Troy is their property" Taylor said sighing.

"And it never occurs to any of you that Troy is a person" Gabriella said sardonically. "Let's drop it. We're not going to agree on this. Tell me about yourself?"

"Well I was born in Santa Fe, We moved to Albuquerque when I was nine. My Mom's a contract lawyer and Dad's a criminal lawyer. They met at Yale Law School" Taylor said. "I want to do a double major in political science and pre-law. Yale is obviously my first choice but I've also applied to Harvard, Stanford and Columbia."

Gabriella frowned a little at the information Taylor thought was important but answered anyway. "I was born in New York. My father was an Author my Mom's a corporate lawyer. I want to be a doctor, I've applied about a dozen places but my dream is to go to Stanford" Gabriella said giving back the same information Taylor had given her.

"What did your father write?" Taylor asked.

'Nothing you'd ever admit to reading' Gabriella thought not wanting to confess that her father had made a very good living writing steamy historical romances. She wasn't ashamed of his work in any way though her mother had only very recently allowed her to read any of them. "Nothing you've ever read" Gabriella said dismissively instead.

They collected their lunches and sat with the other decathlon members who Gabriella was finally introduced to.

Gabriella asked about various classes and teachers trying to get a better feel for the school. She enjoyed her lunchbreak but was aware of Troy and the rest of the team hurrying in tem minutes before the end of the break, racing for the serving area and scarfing their food down like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"The Neanderthals have arrived" Taylor said scathingly.

"They had practice all through lunch and most of them would have trained through free period too. It's not surprising that they're starving and want to eat before classes start for the afternoon" Gabriella said mildly as she collected her things. "I need to go to my locker and then find my classroom" she excused herself.

-o0o-

Troy rang Gabriella after dinner. "Hey" he said. How did the rest of your day go?"

"Hi Troy" Gabriella said smiling. "It was okay. The work is all easy enough though I have to catch up on English. I hadn't read Macbeth before. My last school were preparing to do Romeo and Juliet."

"It's a pity I didn't know you were coming to my school I could have told you we'd be doing 'the Scottish play' as Darbus calls it dramatically shuddering" Troy replied. "How are you finding it?"

"Slow going. I can see why he's considered one of the world's greatest playwrights but the language has changed so much since then. Do you have Ms Darbus for English?"

"Well I'm glad it's hard for smart people too" Troy said laughing. "Yes I've got Darbus this semester. She's a nightmare. She's in love with Shakespeare it's a wonder she didn't want to do one of his plays for the musical."

"I don't think he wrote musicals" Gabriela said amused.

"Yeah but there's so many different adaptations of Romeo and Juliet surely someone's written a musical version" Troy replied.

"I'm sure they have but I certainly wouldn't want to see Sharpay and Ryan try to perform it" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella that's the first uncharitable thing I've ever heard you say about anyone. I'm proud of you" Troy teased.

"I say plenty of uncharitable things about my mother Troy" Gabriella reminded him.

"No that's different, you complain about how your Mom treats you and how her decisions have affected your life. That comment about Ryan and Sharpay was just plain bitchy" Troy said cheerfully.

"Then why are you proud of me for it? I thought you didn't like the cheerleaders because of their bitchy comments?" Gabriella asked confused.

"I don't like the cheerleaders because they're hypocritical and every single thing that comes out of Liana's mouth is either bitchy or intended to manipulate someone" Troy replied bluntly. "I was proud of you that you could see Sharpay for who she is and know that you're better than her."

"I'm not Troy" Gabriella protested. "Sharpay's a performer and I never will be. I just meant that putting a happy peppy beat to one of the great tragic love stories of all time would be ridiculous."

"You are better than Sharpay because you're not a performer. No matter what part Sharpay is cast in you'll always only be able to see Sharpay playing a role. You on the other hand got emotionally involved in the song. You could actually become the role. It's like when you go to the movies and you get so caught up in the story line that at the end you've almost forgotten who the actors were coz all you could see were the characters in the story. Sharpay will never be able to do that" Troy said.

"I don't know that I can do that either Troy. I get so self conscious in front of lots of people" Gabriella said quietly. "Don't the scholastic decathlon finals have an audience?" Troy asked surprised. He knew they didn't have the sort of following that the sports teams enjoyed but surely they had some.

"It's mostly teachers and parents of the team" Gabriella said. "A few more people come to the finals because there are five teams but it's not a popular extracurricular activity."

"Well I can't come to this round but I'll come to the next round if you're in it" Troy said.

"That's sweet Troy. But I haven't decided whether to join the team" Gabriella responded glad Troy couldn't see her blush.

"Did you enjoy the decathlon in your other schools?" Troy asked.

"Yeah I did. It was the closest I'd come to having friends at school" Gabriella confessed.

Troy felt sad that Gabriella had been so lonely in her previous schools and wanted to do as much as possible to make sure she made friends at East High. "Then why are you hesitating to join the team here? Is there someone on the team you don't like?" he asked.

"The only person on the team I really know is Taylor. I've barely met the others" Gabriella responded.

"And you don't like Taylor?" Troy pressed.

"Sometimes I think I could like her a lot, but I don't like they way she talks about you. She warned me away from hanging out with you today" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella I tried to warn you against hanging out with me at school" Troy reminded her. "She's probably just concerned about you. Give her another chance."

"Why do you want me to be her friend?" Gabriella asked suspiciously.

Troy sighed. "I don't really care if you're Taylor's friend. I just want you to have friends. Hey maybe you and Kelsi could be friends. She seems nice" he suggested.

Gabriella laughed. "Troy I have more here at East High than I've ever had before. You are my friend. You don't need to worry about me."

"I want you to be happy here. We'll be friends wherever you go next but I want you to look back on East High and Albuquerque as a place you loved. So you'll want to come back some day" Troy said.

"You think you'll live in Albuquerque all your life?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah" Troy said as if there was no room for doubt. He couldn't tell Gabriella why he needed to stay, but he knew he would never live very far from here. "Though I don't expect to spend the rest of my life living in this bedroom" he joked.

"So you plan to go to the University of Albuquerque?" Gabriella asked.

"I have thought about applying to other places but both my parents went to U of A" Troy confessed. "My Dad played for the Redhawks. That's his dream for me."

"But what about your dream Troy?" Gabriella asked.

"I haven't really thought about it" Troy admitted. "Maybe after the season finishes I can look into other colleges."

"I have to go Troy. I still have homework I need to catch up on" Gabriella said reluctantly.

"Okay Gabriella. Good luck catching up. Do you want to walk to school together again?" Troy asked.

"Yes I'd like that" Gabriella said smiling.

"Okay I'll pick you up about ten past eight: Troy confirmed. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Troy"

-o0o-

Troy arrived at Gabriella's slightly early again Wednesday morning this time with a pair of banana peels in his hand.

"Good morning Troy" Maria said opening the door. "We slept in this morning and I'm afraid Gabriella might be running late, I need to go and finish getting ready but help yourself to a drink and the fruit bowl if you want to wait."

"Thanks Ms Montez" Troy said. He threw the banana peels in the bin and took it outside to empty.

"Mom, I thought I heard Troy" Gabriella said coming into the kitchen and finding it empty. She opened the fridge and leant down to get the fruit out of the crisper.

Troy came back in the back door. "You did" he said leaning against the doorjamb enjoying the view of Gabriella bending over in skinny jeans.

"Troy you're early" Gabriella exclaimed coming over to hug him quickly.

"And you're gonna be late" Troy replied kissing her cheek.

Gabriella glanced at the clock then ran out of the kitchen. Troy looked around and decided to make himself useful, he put a new bag in the bin as he'd seen Ms Montez do the day before and stacked the dishwasher before grabbing an apple and sitting down to wait.

"Let's go" called Gabriella running down the stairs, "Bye Mom."

"Bye Gabriella. Have a good day" Maria called.

"Do you think Ms Darbus will post the call-back list today?" Gabriella asked as they walked quickly towards the school.

"Yeah it's not fair that we know and Ryan and Sharpay think they've got the part" Troy said. "Darbus might have waited to tell them personally. They seem to be her favourites." Troy had chosen to wear wildcat colours today in the hope it might stop people from querying his loyalty to the team when they heard about the call-backs.

"How do you think your friends will react?" Gabriella asked nervously.

"No idea! Chad won't like it" Troy replied calmly. 'I'm more worried about what Dad will say' he thought.

"Aren't you worried about Chad? You've been best friends forever" Gabriella said concerned.

"Yeah but because we've been friends forever doesn't mean he gets to make decisions for me. He should support me too even if he doesn't like it. I would support him if he tried something new" Troy replied.

"You think he will support you?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "I think so. He always has before" he said confidently. "You know we should run. We're going to be late."

"I can't run in these shoes" Gabriella protested.

"I'll give you a piggy back" Troy offered. "It'll be quicker than this."

Gabriella agreed dubiously and followed Troy's instructions to get in place. Troy held her tightly under the thighs and Gabriella held tightly to his shoulders as he took off running towards the school. He ran up the steps and straight to homeroom ignoring the other students who looked up laughing as they raced past. Troy set her down just outside the door after the final bell rang. They hurried in to take a seat before Ms Darbus put them in detention again.

-o0o-

Sharpay checked the notice board the next day on her way to lunch so she should gloat over receiving her eighteenth lead role to her friends and was shocked to read that was not what it said.

"**Callback?! Aah!"** Sharpay screamed.

**"Callback for roles Arnold and Minnie next Thursday, 3:30pm, Ryan and Sharpay Evans, Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton,"** Ryan read out.

"**Is this some kind of joke? They didn't even audition!"** Sharpay said almost hyperventilating in her fury. She didn't have any doubt that she deserved to win the part. She'd never heard Troy sing but he didn't have any theatre experience and Gabriella was a nobody.

"**Maybe we're being punked?" **Ryan said excitedly.** "Maybe we're being filmed right now. Maybe we'll get to meet Ashton!"** he gushed.

"**Oh, shut up, Ryan!"** Sharpay snapped, embarrassed by her brother's foolishness and naiveté.

"**What's wrong?"** Chad asked laughing as he walked up. His face dropped as he read the notice board.

"**What?"** Chadsaid feeling betrayed. He'd told Troy that it was a bad idea to audition and he'd gone and done it anyway without telling him. He walked off to find his friend and captain.

"**Uhh!"** Sharpay said in disgust also walking off.

**-o0o-**

"**How dare she sign up! I picked out the colours for my dressing room"** Sharpay vented as she sat in the cafeteria with her friends. Inside she was scared Ms Darbus must have seen or heard something special for her to give a call-back to two people with no performing experience. Not to mention Troy who she clearly disliked.

"**She hasn't even asked our permission to join the drama club"** Ryan said.

"**Someone's gotta tell her the rules"** Sharpay stated.

"**Exactly!"** Ryan agreed with his sister automatically then realised he didn't know what she was talking about.** "And what are the rules?"** he asked.

"**Ohh!"** Sharpay huffed storming off again. Sometime's Ryan's need to take everything literally drove her insane.

**-o0o-**

"**If Troy can tell his secret, then I can tell mine. I bake" **Zeke confessed to his team.

"**What?"** Chad exclaimed disbelievingly.

"**I love to bake! Strudels, scones, even apple pandowdy. Someday I hope to make the perfect crème** **brûlée"** he explained not noticing the hostile reaction he was getting from Chad.

"**Hip-hop is my passion, I love to pop and lock and jam and break!"** Martha admitted to her friends in the science club.

Her friends looked at her as if she'd gone insane **"Is that even legal?" **one of them asked.

"**It's just dancing, sometimes I think it's cooler than homework"** Martha said slightly upset with her friends' reactions.

"**If Troy wants to be a singer, then I'm coming clean. I play the cello!" **Dutch announced to his skater friends.

"**Awesome!" **His friend crowed.** "What is it?" **He asked. Dutch mimed the actions of playing.

"**A saw!" **His friend asked confused.

"**No, dude, it's like, a giant violin!" **Dutch explained amused.

"**Do you have to wear a costume?" **Another friend asked.

"**Coat and tie"** Dutch confirmed smiling.

His friends looked at him as though he'd gone suddenly insane.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, LaueeeCarter, Ceciliaa93, iigothicxxxgirl666, stordec23, ENPD, trinn14, N. E. Stewart and arrianne for your support.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

"**Why is everybody staring at you?" **Gabriella asked as they walked in to the cafeteria. After much encouragement from Troy she'd decided to give Taylor a chance. As Troy said even if they didn't end up becoming friends, Taylor would introduce her to other people she might have something in common with and be better friends. And it would help her reputation if she had other friends than the basketball team.

"**Not me, you" **Taylor said amused.

"**Because of the callbacks?" **Gabriella asked shocked.** "I can't have people staring at me. I really can't" **she began to panic. Unfortunately in her panic she stopped watching where she was going and slipped on spilt milk sending her spaghetti flying and it landed all over Sharpay.

"**Aah!" **Sharpay screamed as if she'd been burnt though the spaghetti wasn't actually that hot.

**Gabriella blushed and stammered "I am so sorry" **she said sincerely. Trying to help clean her up.

Chad grabbed Troy to stop him from coming to Gabriella's rescue. "**You do not want to get into that, man, Too much drama" **he said.

Troy gave Chad a dirty look and tried to pull himself free. Chad however pushed him across the cafeteria to their table and forced him to take a seat. By the time he let go Gabriella had disappeared.

"**What is going on here?" **Ms Darbus asked. She was unfortunately the teacher on duty in the cafeteria that day.

"**Look at this! That Gabriella girl just dumped her lunch on me! On purpose! It's all part of their plan to ruin our musical. And Troy and his basketball robots are obviously behind it. Why do you think he auditioned? After all the hard work you've put into this show. It just doesn't seem right" **Sharpay lied, using the accident and Ms Darbus' prejudice against the basketball team and its coach to plant doubt in Ms Darbus' mind to gain the advantage in the call-backs.

"**What's up?" **Troy asked as he joined the team for lunch.

"**What's up? Oh, let's see... You missed free-period workout to audition for some heinous musical, And now suddenly people are confessing, Yeah, and Zeke, Zeke is baking... crème****brûlée" **Chad ranted.

"**What's that?" **Troy asked.

"**Oh, a creamy custard with a caramelized surface, - It's really satisfying" **Zeke explained enthusiastically**.**

"**Shut up, Zeke!" **Chad snapped**. "Look... do you see what's happening here, man? Our team is coming apart because of your singing thing. Even the drama geeks and the brainiacs suddenly think that they can... talk to us" **Chad said sounding horrified that other students now thought the basketball team were approachable.

Troy wanted to tell him to stop being such an elitist snob but realised that he had to have his teammates back in this even if he didn't agree. It was one of the worst parts of being Captain and the Coach's son.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked mildly. "There are a lot of people in this school that might be great to get to know."

"**Look, the skater dudes are mingling" **Chad complained ignoring Troy.

Troy looked over at them.

"**Yo!" **Dutch called out.

Troy smiled at him behind Chad's back.

Chad didn't notice and went right on complaining. All these revelations had thrown his view of the world and he didn't know how to cope.** "Suddenly people think that they can do other stuff. Stuff that's not their stuff. You're thinking about show tunes, when we've got a playoff game next week"**

"What's your problem with trying something new? We're going to win the championship. What Zeke or I do in my spare time is not going to make a difference" Troy said. "Zeke's been baking for a long time, it hasn't changed the way he plays."

-o0o-

Estelle Darbus marched through the locker rooms in search of Jack Bolton's office. It would be difficult to say who was more traumatised by her presence in the boy's locker area. The half dressed boys she almost ran into or Estelle herself.

"**All right, Cards on the table right now" **Estelle demanded as she reached Jacks office and slammed her hands on his desk.

"**Huh?" **Jack asked shocked to find her in his office especially as she would have had to walk past the boy's locker rooms to get there. He hoped she hadn't traumatised any of them. He wondered what had driven her to this latest hissy fit.

"**You're tweaked because I put your stars in detention and now you're getting even"**Estelle accused.

"**What are you talking about, Darbus?" **Jack asked crossly, annoyed at her interruption and dramatics.

Estelle huffed and realised that Jack was going to force her to explain. She became even more annoyed with him. The idea that Jack genuinely didn't know about Troy auditioning never entered her mind. **"Your all-star son turned up at my audition. Now, I give every student an even chance which is a long and honourable tradition in the theatre. Something that you wouldn't understand. But, if he is planning some sort of practical joke in my chapel of the arts..." **Estelle quashed the tiny voice in the back of her mind that pointed out she hadn't exactly offered Troy an even chance or any chance at all.

"**Troy doesn't even sing**" Jackinterrupted flatly looking at Estelle Darbus as though she'd grown another head.

"**Oh, well, you're wrong about that" **Estelle said softly then added firmly.**"But I will not allow my Twinkle Town musicale to be made into farce."**

"**Twinkle Town?" **Jack asked amused.

"**See? I knew it! I knew it!" **Estelle exclaimed furiously storming off.

"**Sounds like a winner. Good luck on Broadway!" **Jack called out sarcastically.

-o0o-

"**Is Sharpay really, really mad at me? I said I was sorry" **Gabriella asked anxiously.

"**Look, no one has beaten out Sharpay for a musical since kindergarten"**Taylor explained smiling at the thought of the fit the diva would have thrown when she first found out. Taylor didn't want Gabriella to audition for the musical but she still had to admit that anything that upset the self proclaimed princess of east high couldn't be all bad.

"**I wasn't trying to beat anyone out. We didn't even audition, we were just singing" **Gabriella argued.

Taylor laughed.** "You won't convince Sharpay of that. If that girl could figure out a way to play both Romeo and Juliet, her own brother would be aced out of a job" **she explained cattily.

"**I told you it just happened, but I liked it, A lot" **Gabriella said quietly.** "Did you ever feel like there's a whole other person inside you just looking for a way to come out?" **she asked her new friend.

Taylor looked at Gabriella in surprise. **"Not really, No" **she said thoughtfully.** "Let's go" **Taylor said as the bell went, wanting to be early for class.

-o0o-

Zeke approached the girl he'd begun to develop a crush on. **"Hey, Sharpay, I just thought since Troy Bolton's gonna be in your show..." **he began.

"**Troy Bolton is not in my show" **Sharpay interrupted yelling furiously.

"**OK, um... well, I thought maybe you could watch me play ball sometime" **Zeke invited nervously.

"**I'd rather stick pins in my eyes" **Sharpay said bitchily.

"**Wouldn't that be awfully uncomfortable?" **Zeke asked confused.

"**Evaporate, tall person!" **Sharpay snapped, walking away**.**

"**I bake! If that helps" **Zeke called after her hopefully.

-o0o-

Gabriella followed the instructions Troy had left in her locker and met him up on the roof. **"Wow! It's like a jungle up here" **she said admiringly.

"**Yeah, just like that cafeteria" **Troy laughed.

"**Where I just humiliated myself into the next century" **Gabriella groaned.

"**No!" **Troy said comfortingly wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"**So this is your private hideout?" **Gabriella asked admiringly.

"**Yeah, Thanks to the science club. Which means my buddies don't know it exists" **Troy said smiling. "You're the only person I've ever brought up here" he reassured her.

Gabriella knew how important it was to Troy to have a place he could get away from the pressure and just be himself and was honoured that he wanted to share it with her.

"**You pretty much have the school wired, don't you, Troy? Seems to me like everyone on campus wants to be your friend" **Gabriella said. She knew that Troy didn't like the pressure to be the perfect Basketball captain but there was no denying that he did it well. Gabriella thought Troy was wrong about girls avoiding him because of his reputation, she believed most of them would have dated him in a second if he'd asked them out. They were just too intimidated by the cheerleaders to approach him or too insecure to think the basketball superstar would be interested in them and Troy made it worse by closing himself off defensively because he believed they were judging him for his reputation making girls think that he thought himself too superior to be bothered to talk to them.

"**Unless we lose" **Troy said bluntly, revealing just how much pressure he was under.

"**Well, I'm sure it's tricky being the coach's son" **Gabriella said. She knew all about the hassles Troy had with his father but hadn't thought about the public side of their relationship. Troy had to work twice as hard as everyone else to prove he'd earned his spot on the team.

"**Makes me practice a little harder, I guess. I don't know what he'll say when he finds out about the singing" **Troy said nervously.

"**You worried?" **Gabriella asked feeling guilty. Troy had only offered to audition to support her. He'd told her he didn't want to. She'd been worried about his friend's reactions but it was his father that had the power to make Troy's life truly difficult.

Troy didn't answer directly.** "My parents' friends are always saying 'Your son's the basketball guy. You must be so... proud.' Sometimes I don't wanna be the "basketball guy." I just wanna be a guy, You know?" **he said sadly. Troy hated the fact that there were very few people in his life who wouldn't treat him differently if he didn't play so well.

"**I saw the way you treated Kelsi at the audition yesterday. Do your friends know that guy?" **Gabriella asked. She really liked seeing the Troy she'd met on New Year's Eve and gotten to know over the phone since then. She wasn't sure how she liked the basketball captain Troy who acted in ways even he didn't like in order to fit in with his team. Gabriella knew that eventually that behaviour might irritate her to the point she wouldn't want to hang around him in public if she didn't encourage him to be himself.

Troy shrugged.** "To them, I'm the playmaker dude" **he dismissed the idea that he could be more than that.

"**Then they don't know enough about you, Troy. At my other schools I was the freaky math girl. It's cool coming here and being... anyone I wanna be. When I was singing with you I just felt like... a girl" **Gabriella said hoping Troy understood what she was trying to say. He was so much more than just the basketball guy if he'd only let himself be.

"**You even look like one, too" **Troy joked trying to lighten the mood. He knew what she was trying to say but two weeks before the championship wasn't the best time to try to redefine his relationships with his team.

"**Do you remember in kindergarten how you'd meet a kid and know nothing about them, then ten seconds later you play like you're best friends because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?" **Gabriella asked.

Troy thought back to those days when there was no pressure to perform on the court, no need for hours of training to be good enough, no need to worry about your reputation or the reputations of the people you wanted to be friends with. No doubts whether your parents loved you or each other. **"Yeah" **he agreed wistfully.

"**Singing with you felt like that" **Gabriella told him taking his hand and squeezing it lightly.

Troy thought back to that night and realised she was right. After the first few nerve wracking lines it had felt like that. No pressure just having fun with this wonderful girl he wanted to know better. And singing with Kelsi that morning had felt like that too. **"Well, uh... I never thought about singing that's for sure. Till you" **Troy admitted.

"**So you really wanna do the call-backs?" **Gabriella asked.

"**Hey, just call me freaky call-back boy" **Troy said smiling at her.

Gabriella looked at him "Troy, tell me honestly, do you have the time to do the call-backs?" she asked concerned.

"I want to do it Gabriella. The call-backs the day before the championships and they'll be over and I'll be able to focus. I'm as ready as I can be for the championships. Rehearsing for the call-backs won't hurt our chances of winning the championship" Troy said determindly.

"**You're a cool guy, Troy" **Gabriella said smiling sadly.** "But not for the reasons your friends think. And thanks for showing me your top-secret hiding place. Like kindergarten" **she took his hand and he leaned in to kiss her. Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss opening her mouth to let Troy in when his tongue requested entrance. Troy ran his hands down her back carefully reminding himself to keep to appropriate touches not to scare her off. Gabriella jumped as he groaned when her tongue started to respond to his and he could feel her hardening nipples brush his chest and realised that it was only the way they were sitting that hid from her the fact he was equally aroused. They made out until the bell rang and they had to rush off in opposite directions to get to class.

-o0o-

Troy called in to visit Gabriella that afternoon. Instead of inviting him in Gabriella requested that he show her around the neighbourhood a bit more so they could enjoy the rare January sunshine. Troy wondered if he'd scared her a little making out at lunch time and this was her way of putting their friendship back to the way it was before that. Gabriella was bundled up in a coat, hat and gloves while Troy was in a windcheater with his head bare. "Are you warm enough?" Gabriella asked.

"Sure" Troy nodded shoving his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to wrap his arms around Gabriella. They headed through the play park and towards the shopping centre.

"Did your Dad say anything about the call-backs?" Gabriella asked.

"No he was in a mood again about something though so unless Mom rang him at work I think he knows" Troy replied.

"Practice was rough?" Gabriella asked sympathetically.

"Not that bad, the others were there but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm out practicing again as soon as I get home though" Troy said resignedly.

"I now understand your complaints of struggling to get enough homework done to get a C average" Gabriella said.

"Actually if you exclude math I have a high B average" Troy replied.

"I'm happy to help you with your math if you need it" Gabriella replied.

Troy blushed "I don't need help Gabriella. I could easily do better than I do. Math is just the easiest subject to manipulate the marks in without risking actually failing, so it looks like I'm barely passing and I have an excuse to go out and get help or stop practicing to study for a test if I need to. It would be my best subject if I let it be" Troy admitted blushing.

"That's terrible Troy. You can't sabotage your education like that" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Gabriella if I had really good marks in all my subjects Dad wouldn't accept it when I said I need time off training to study and all my other marks would suffer. 50% of the math grade is based on the final exam. So as soon as Dad eases off on training my marks will improve and I'll do my best on the exam and hopefully end up with a high B or low A" Troy explained.

Gabriella sighed. She was angry that Troy felt that he needed to sabotage his marks like that but she couldn't be angry with him for it. Then a way to help Troy take advantage of the situation occurred to her

"I could tutor you in Math after dinner a couple of nights a week" she suggested smirking. "After all I am a mathematics genius."

Troy laughed. "That would be fantastic" he said enthusiastically. "We could study together or just spend time hanging out talking."

"That sounds great" Gabriella agreed.

"I gotta go Gabriella. I'm babysitting Jakie tonight" Troy said looking at his watch. He kissed her on the cheek quickly and took off at a fast jog.

Troy arrived home before Steve arrived to pick him up. He got changed into sweats and a T-shirt he didn't mind getting dirty and packed his bag with the homework he needed to complete. His Mom wasn't home yet but Jack came out to greet Steve and spend a few minutes chatting. Troy was glad that neither was holding a grudge after the argument they'd had last week.

"You ready to go?" Steve asked Troy smiling at his nephew as he came down the stairs.

"Sure" Troy agreed. "Goodnight Dad" he said to his father.

"Where are you and Aunt Deb going tonight?" Troy asked politely as they drove.

"Dinner with friends of Debra's and then to see the local opera society" Steve said rolling his eyes.

Troy laughed "well don't have too much fun now" he joked.

"Believe me Troy I'd better get lucky tonight after this" Steve said grimly.

"Surely it's not that bad. Some of Aunt Deb's friends seemed okay" Troy said.

"Most of them are fine" Steve agreed. "But the husband of the friend we're having dinner with is a pompous ass. And the light opera was like listening to cats' wail last time we went."

Troy laughed "I hope Aunt Deb is suitably grateful" he said sarcastically.

Steve realised how inappropriate this conversation was to have with his sixteen year old nephew even if he was aware of the nature of his relationships with the cheerleaders. "Um..Yes..Well..." he stuttered and was relieved when they arrived at the house.

Troy realising his uncle was feeling uncomfortable let himself into the house calling out for his Aunt Deb and Jakie.

"We're in the kitchen Troy" Deb yelled.

"Twoy" Jakie called excitedly.

Troy entered the kitchen to find his Aunt obviously having dressed up to go out but now also wearing Jakie's stewed fruit and custard. "I'll take it from here. You go get ready to go out" Troy offered concealing his laughter.

"Thanks Troy. The little monster will need a bath" Deb said looking at him gratefully.

"Has he had enough to eat?" Troy asked.

"He doesn't get any more once he's started throwing food. If he's still hungry and wont settle he can have a bottle before bed" Deb said.

"Okay I'll leave him in the high chair while I clean up here and then take him up to bath once you and Uncle Steve have finished with the bathroom.

Deb smiled at him and vanished. Troy gave Jakie a rough cleaning up and handed him a toy to play with while he cleaned up. Jacob whined a bit but Troy was firm. "You made all this mess Jakie. I need to clean it up before we can go have a bath" he said gently.

"Baff Twoy" Jakie said enthusiastically.

"Yes in a minute" Troy agreed cleaning industriously trying to finish before the little boy started to cry to be let out of the high chair.

Dab and Steve both stopped in the doorway and quietly got Troy's attention. "We're going" Steve said quietly.

"Have fun" Troy said looking at his Aunt.

"You too Troy" Debra said.

Troy lifted Jakie out of the highchair and carried him upstairs. "It's just as well you like being washed little man he said cheerfully. Do you want a bath or a shower?" he asked noticing that someone had laid out Jakie's pyjamas and towel for him.

"Soer" Jacob said.

"Good boy Jakie, Shower" Troy said smiling as he turned on the water. He stripped Jakie off and put him on the floor of the shower for a moment while he stripped off his own clothes before picking him up and holding him tightly as he moved them both under the spray.

Jakie enjoyed his shower and Troy got him dried and dressed before dressing himself.

Gabriella rang just as he finished drying himself. He quickly text back teasingly "CANT TALK NO PANTS" grinning at the thought of her reaction. He finished dressing and sat to read Jakie a story. Jakie didn't settle like he normally did and Troy remembered the bottle Deb had thought he might want. He heated it up and offered it to the toddler. Jakie drank hungrily as Troy rocked him remembering when he was smaller. Eventually Troy got him to sleep and laid him down in his cot.

He rang Gabriella as he walked down the stairs.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, old voldys gone moldy, stordec23, ENPD, wombaat24 and joseph5899 for your support.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

"Hey Troy, I thought you were looking after Jakie tonight" Gabriella said.

"I am" Troy said wondering why she thought he wasn't.

"Then what were you doing running around with no pants on in front of a toddler?" Gabriella asked.

"I just got finished bathing Jakie and took of my wet pants to put on dry clothes" Troy explained.

"Is he asleep now?" Gabriella asked.

"Yes finally" Troy said. "He didn't want to go down tonight."

"So did you have a good night looking after him?" Gabriella asked smiling.

"Yeah we always have fun" Troy said happily. He sounded less stressed than he had in days. "I've still got a truckload of homework though so I better go."

"Okay Troy. Good luck with the homework. I'll see you in the morning" Gabriella replied.

"Night Gabriella, Sweet dreams" Troy said before disconnecting the call.

He sat at the kitchen table to finish his homework, and was still working when Debra and Steve arrived home. "You're not normally up this late doing homework?" Steve asked worried as he knew how early his brother forced Troy to get up to run.

"I'm struggling to get it all done with the amount of time Dad has me training and the call-back rehearsals" Troy admitted starting to pack up his stuff.

"I hate to say this Troy but do you really have time to audition for and be in the musical?" Steve asked as he drove Troy home.

"I really want to do it Uncle Steve. Singing feels like basketball used to. Basketball season finishes in less than two weeks and then I'll have time for the rehearsals and stuff" Troy replied.

"Well Deb and I will look forward to coming to see you. We'll have to find a different babysitter for that night" Steve said. "Come on let's get you home. 5.30am is going to come awfully quickly. Has your Mom said anything about the hours of extra practice Jack's making you do?"

Troy sighed "She's not home to notice. I told her about it when she complained about me waking her and Dad up with the washing machine when I put it on before going running the other morning. I don't know that it will do much good though"

Steve laughed "Well that's one way to bring it to their attention" he said. "Have you finished the homework you have to do tonight?"

"Yeah" Troy said tiredly. "Thanks for the ride home."

"Thanks for looking after Jacob. Deb would never leave him without worrying with anyone else."

"I love looking after him" Troy replied.

"I hate to ask you to do it when you're already so busy though" Steve said.

"It's fine. I enjoy it. What night do you want me to look after him next week?" Troy asked smiling.

"You don't want to have a week off for the championships and call-backs and everything?" Steve asked surprised.

"No, looking after Jakie's surprisingly relaxing. I'm gonna need the break from the stress" Troy replied.

"Your game's Friday right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, and call-backs are Thursday afternoon" Troy agreed.

"Okay what about Monday night then?"

"Yeah pick I'll ring you to me up after training as usual" Troy said smiling.

"See you next week Troy" Steve said gratefully.

"See you Monday Uncle Steve" Troy said getting out of the car and waving to his Uncle as he let himself into the house.

"Where have you been?" his mother demanded. She was sitting at the table eating obviously having not long arrived home herself.

"Babysitting Jakie like I do every week" Troy said tiredly. "Dad knew why didn't you ask him?"

"You should have let me know" Lucille said crossly.

"What? Let you know I wouldn't be home to cook dinner and you had to come home at a decent hour to do it yourself for a change?" Troy asked sarcastically. "It's not my fault you get so busy you can't remember what day of the week it is. Oh and I'm babysitting Monday next week instead because of the championships. Put it in your calendar. I'm going to bed."

Lucille watched Troy walk upstairs in shock. She knew he was somewhat upset about the hours she'd been working but he'd never spoken to her like that before. And to be honest as annoyed as she was with his words and tome of voice she really couldn't blame him.

-o0o-

Gabriella was up early next morning and met Troy at the door ready to go.

"Good morning Troy" she said cheerfully.

"Morning Gabriella" Troy said. He put her bag over his shoulder with his and took her hand as they walked towards the school. "Are you ready to face the hordes?" Troy asked.

"Yeah I'll have to be" Gabriella said. "I'm meeting Kelsi at free period."

"That's good. I have training during free period but I'm meeting Kelsi at lunchtime" Troy said.

"Make sure you both get to eat, that girl strikes me as almost as obsessed with music as your Dad is with basketball" Gabriella said smiling.

"Yeah but at least she doesn't push her obsession onto anyone else" Troy said. "I'll make sure she eats."

"Did you get your homework done?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah I finished everything due today and got some of my History paper written" Troy said.

"Isn't it shooting yourself in the foot to hand everything in on time" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah but if I didn't hand in the stuff due today Dad would blame Jakie and want me to stop looking after him as often" Troy explained. "The fact I seem to get more homework done when I'm babysitting is what stops him complaining about it."

Gabriella laughed. "And will you hand in all of yesterday's work today as well? Even if you finished it in time to hand in yesterday when it was due?" she asked.

"Yeah" Troy said grinning.

Gabriella shook her head unable to approve of such dishonesty but understanding why Troy felt he needed to do it.

They arrived at school and Troy escorted her to her locker and then to his on the way to homeroom.

-o0o-

Gabriella looked forward to meeting Kelsi during free period. It was good to get away from everyone staring at her.

"Hey Gabriella, how are you coping with all the attention?" Kelsi asked as she looked up from what she was playing when she heard the door.

"I hate everyone staring at me" Gabriella complained.

"Well if you don't want attention you shouldn't be hanging around with Troy" Kelsi said hesitantly.

"Yeah he warned me that I would attract attention hanging out with him before I started here. I just never realised how bad it would be" Gabriella admitted.

"Are you sorry you auditioned?" Kelsi asked hesitantly.

Gabriella shrugged, "No not really" she admitted. "Singing with Troy is amazing, and as you said just being his friend would have got a lot of people to notice me. Hopefully it will settle down after the call-backs and the basketball championships. Until then I can come and hide out with you when it gets too much."

Kelsi laughed. "I'm glad of the company" she reassured her new friend. "And I'm here most of the time."

"Do you bring your lunch from home?" Gabriella asked realising that she hadn't seen the smaller girl in the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I'm lactose intolerant so it's easier" Kelsi said.

"Kelsi aren't you lonely spending all your time in here?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

"It's worse in the cafeteria. I don't really belong to any of the cliques and I end up sitting with Ryan and Sharpay and the drama club. It's easy to be here on my own with the music but to be in the cafeteria surrounded by people and still feel alone makes me feel sad as well" Kelsi explained.

"I'd want to hide in here rather than sit with Sharpay too" Gabriella agreed shuddering.

"She's really not that bad so long as she's getting her own way" Kelsi said. "If you just agree with anything he says about the drama club and performing she can be quite reasonable about other stuff. I just try to avoid talking about those things."

"Surely you realised that writing the music for the Musicale would have caused conflict" Gabriella said.

"No I probably should have but I didn't. Every other year they've done some famous musical and I guess she had no reason to want to change the pace of the songs. I never realised that she would feel she had the right to change my music" Kelsi explained. "We should get to work" she said starting to play the song Gabriella and Troy would be singing at the call backs.

Gabriella started to sing. It was slow going trying to learn half of a duet without Troy there to sing the other half and Gabriella felt self conscious singing without the magic that happened when they sang together but she persevered and soon she had the words memorised and was able to follow the melody. They were still working when the bell rang and both had to quickly run in opposite directions to get to class on time.

-o0o-

Troy knocked on the music room door at the start of lunch. He's packed some fruit and energy bars in case he didn't get time to get back to the cafeteria.

"Hey Troy I didn't expect you so soon" Kelsi said. "You can eat first you know?"

"I came prepared. I'm used to missing lunch" Troy replied.

"Okay well let's get started then" Kelsi said nervously. She was far more anxious around the basketball star than she had been with Gabriella.

Unfortunately Troy misunderstood and thought she was reacting to the rumours the cheerleaders had started and withdrew rather than trying to put Kelsi at ease. They concentrated on the song and like Gabriella Troy found singing much more difficult on his own. Unlike Gabriella Troy managed to remember the melody but still needed to read the words.

"You have a lovely voice Troy. How come nobody heard you sing before?" Kelsi asked as they hurriedly ate lunch at the end of the break.

"Gabriella and I were forced to sing karaoke together on New Year's Eve. That's how we met. Otherwise I never would even have thought about auditioning" Troy explained. "I've never had time to even think about anything other than sports before."

"We'll I'm very glad you auditioned this time" Kelsi said smiling. "I hope you and Gabriella get the lead roles."

"I thought Sharpay was a friend of yours" Troy asked slightly surprised.

"No Ryan's nice enough when you get him away from his sister though he is a little odd but even if I was good friends with Sharpay and Ryan I would want you to get the lead. Sharpay's would ruin all my songs if she gets it" Kelsi explained.

"I only hope Darbus doesn't decide to do something stupid like give the leads to me and Sharpay" Troy said dismally. 'Or to Gabriella and Ryan' he thought.

"She won't do that. You and Gabriella auditioned as a pair she'll either pick both of you together or Ryan and Sharpay" Kelsi said reassuringly.

Troy made a sound of relief.

"You don't like Sharpay, she likes you?" Kelsi asked surprised. She'd seen the two talking in the corridors several times.

"No she doesn't" Troy argued. "She doesn't know me and I don't think she really wants to either. She just wants to be seen dating the most popular boy in school."

"You dislike her?" Kelsi asked again.

"Honestly I don't like her but I don't know her enough to really dislike her and I have no interest in getting to know her. She annoys me and I'd rather not spend time with her."

"Can we meet again tomorrow?" Kelsi asked changing the subject.

"I have practice at lunch but we could meet up in free period" Troy suggested.

"That sounds good, can you ask Gabriella if she wants to work with me at lunch or after school?" Kelsi asked.

"Sure" Troy agreed. "Have a good afternoon Kelsi."

"Bye Troy"

-o0o-

Troy had art last period of the day and as the art teacher was out sick Ms Darbus took the opportunity to have the class spend the period designing and painting sets for the musicale. Troy got into it and didn't notice the bell ringing to signal end of class. Gabriella turned up to volunteer her time painting sets as well and the two of them exchanged grins as they both concentrated on their allocated tasks. It wasn't until people began to leave that Troy looked at the clock and realised he should have been at basketball practice an hour ago. Panicking he ran to the gym and threw on his practice uniform arriving as the rest of the team was about to leave.

-o0o-

"**Let's go, guys! Make it sharp! To the chest, come on! Pop it! Come on, guys, Step with it! Let's go! Come on, move it! Let's go! Come on, guys, focus! Focus! Get your head in the game! Move it!" ** Coach Bolton yelled at the team as they ran drills. The source of his frustration was the missing team captain. **"You seen Troy?"** he asked.

"**No... Coach" **Jason mumbled intimidated and glad he didn't have to lie.

Jack huffed in frustration and started the drill again **"Again, let's go! **He worked the team twice as hard as normal for the rest of the session and was in a better mood by the end of practice.** "That's it, guys, Let's hit the showers. Good hustle, Let's see that in the game"** he said enthusiastically.

Troy came in as the rest of the team were leaving having lost track of the time. **"I, uh, I think I'm gonna stay a while. Work on some free throws" **he said.

"**Well since you missed practice, I think your team deserves a little effort from you today"** Jack said grumpily. He stalked off towards his office and Troy started to practice, cursing himself for not keeping his eye on the time and wondering how much his father was going to torture him with extra practice that night.

"**Wow, So this is your real stage"** Gabriella said finding him in the gym alone about an hour later.

"**Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Or just a smelly gym"** Troy said smiling at his friend, glad she'd come to find him though he was a little worried about his father's possible reaction.

Gabriella stole the ball from him and shot and scored an easy basket.

"**Whoa! Don't tell me you're good at hoops, too" **Troy said laughing delightedly.

"**You know, I once scored 41 points at a league championship game"** Gabriella claimed boastingly.

"**No way"** Troy exclaimed amazed.

"**Mm-hm, And the same day. I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn" **Gabriella said laughing.

Troy chucked realising he'd been had.** "Oh! Microwave popcorn, Ha-ha, Funny"** he said.

"**I've been rehearsing with Kelsi"** Gabriella told him.

Troy smiled **"Me, too, And, by the way. I missed practice. So if I get kicked off the team it'll be on your conscience"** he teased.

Gabriella looked at him alarmed and started to protest. **"Hey, I wasn't the one who told you...**

Troy interrupted to let her know he was joking **"Gabriella, chill!"**

Gabriella frowned at him and grabbed the basketball keeping it away from him. **Hey, that's travelling. No, that's really bad travelling"** Troy protested. Unable to grab the ball he grabbed Gabriella instead, swinging her around making her laugh loudly.

Unfortunately it attracted Jack Bolton's attention and he came out of his office to see what was going on.A small part of Jack was glad to see his son happy but a larger part realised this girl could be a threat to Troy's focus on the championships and he decided to intervene.

"**Miss! I'm sorry, this is a closed practice"** Jack came over to ask Gabriella to leave.

"**Dad, practice is over"** Toy protested.

"**Not till the last player leaves the gym. Team rule" **Jack reminded Troy as if it wasn't a rule that was hardly ever enforced. The cheerleaders and other player's girlfriends were allowed to watch practice all the time so long as they didn't disrupt the practice. Troy knew his father was upset with him for missing practice but he was really pissed that he would take it out on Gabriella.

"**Oh, I'm sorry, sir"** Gabriella said blushing.

"**Dad, this is Gabriella Montez" **Troy introduced her hoping his father would understand he was trying to introduce a friend to his father not his coach.

Of course Jack ignored the differentiation. "**Ah, your detention buddy" **he said disapprovingly.

"**I'll see you later, Troy" **Gabriella said to her friend regretting coming to visit him and hoping she hadn't got him in too much trouble again. **"Nice meeting you, Coach Bolton"** she added trying to be polite.

"**You as well, Miss Montez"** Jack Bolton said insincerely.

"**Dad, detention was my fault, not hers"** Troy said angrily.

"**You haven't missed practice in three years. That girl shows up..." **Jack started to yell at his star player.

"**That girl is named Gabriella. She's very nice" **Troy said firmly.

"**Helping you miss practice doesn't make her very nice, Not in my book. Or your team's"** Jack argued.

"**Dad, she's not a problem. She's just a girl" **Troy said disappointed that his father couldn't see how great Gabriella was.

"**But you're not just a guy, Troy. You're the team leader. What you do affects not only this team but the entire school. And without you completely focused, we're not gonna win next week. The championship games - they don't come along all the time. They're something special"** Jack argued unaware of the hurt he was causing his son.

"**Yeah, a lot of things are special, Dad"** Troy said upset with his father's single mindedness. Couldn't he see that Gabriella was special to Troy.

Jack refused to listen **"But you're a playmaker... not a singer, right?"** he asked.

"**Did you ever think maybe I could be both?" **Troy said despairingly.

Jack didn't answer and Troy after a minute dropped the ball and walked off sadly.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, stordec and ENPD for your support.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

Troy walked straight out of the gym in his training gear too upset to shower and change in the gym where his father might follow him, he didn't even remember to take his bag. He started to shiver as he walked to Gabriella's instead of going home. The temperature was already dropping for the evening and it was barely 35 degrees outside and Troy was still damp with sweat from training and dressed in baggy shorts and singlet top. Wanting to apologise to Gabriella for his father's behaviour he knocked on the door.

"Troy" Gabriella exclaimed as she opened the door. She hadn't expected to even hear from him until late that night with his father in such a mood. She noticed him shivering and pulled him inside.

"I'm not supposed to let you in when Mom's not home" she told him shyly. "But it's freezing outside, where are your clothes?"

"Dad and I had a fight and I just walked out of the gym. I came to apologise" Troy said rubbing his arms.

"You don't need to apologise Troy. You're not responsible for his behaviour and you did warn me. I should have known better than to look for you in the gym" Gabriella said hugging him. "You're freezing! I'll get you a towel and you can have a warm shower. Mom's sweats might fit you" she said firmly pulling him upstairs and into the bathroom.

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said entering the bathroom and starting the water as Gabriella went to collect the towel and clothes.

Gabriella let out a startled noise as she came back to see Troy already starting to strip off with the door still open. He turned just wearing his shorts and grinned at her expression.

Gabriella wordlessly handed him the towel and the sweats before walking out and closing the door.

Troy joined her downstairs about ten minutes later. He looked a bit comical but at least he was no longer shivering. The sweats were baggy and too short for Troy but not in danger of falling down thanks to the drawstring.

"What time does your Mom get home?" Troy asked.

"About six. Why do you want to know?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, if I'm not allowed to be here it'll be better if I go before she gets home" Troy explained.

"I'll probably tell her anyway" Gabriella said.

"Yeah but it's always better not to have an audience when your parents are telling you off" Troy replied knowingly.

Gabriella laughed, then remembered why he'd come.

"Did you and your Dad fight over me?" she asked sobering.

"Yeah" Troy admitted. "It wasn't your fault, he's still cross about me missing practice, and about the singing thing. He wants me to be the basketball guy" he said sadly. "He told me I'm not a singer I'm the playmaker and I just walked out. I couldn't be there with him any longer."

"Oh Troy" Gabriella said hugging him again.

Troy hugged back and they sat there quietly Gabriella realising that Troy needed comfort not to keep analysing what had happened.

About twenty to six Troy got up to go. "Can I wash these and bring them back in the morning?" he asked gesturing to the clothes.

"Sure have you got your basketball stuff on under or do you want a plastic bag for them?" Gabriella asked.

"I left them in the bathroom" Troy replied, "they were sweaty and disgusting. I'll call you later if Dad doesn't keep me out practicing too late."

"Troy it's freezing out" Gabriella exclaimed.

"That won't matter to Dad if he's mad enough" Troy said resignedly. "Hopefully Mr McElroy will want an early night."

"Who's Mr McElroy?" Gabriella asked.

"He's the neighbour that lives on the other side of the basketball court he comes and complains about the noise on his way to bed. Sometimes I think he does it for my sake because usually when it's really hot or cold or Dad's had me out there more often he comes out earlier" Troy explained smiling.

Gabriella laughed. "Well I'm glad someone's on your side" she said wondering where his mother was while his father was forcing him to train out in the freezing cold but not wanting to upset him by asking.

-o0o-

Troy hoped that his Mom would be home before he got there for a change but she wasn't. He quickly ran up to his room and changed throwing the clothes Gabriella had loaned him into the washer. Knowing his father would probably keep him out training most of the evening he prepared a hearty stew that would leave plenty of leftovers to help himself to later. The meal also had the advantage of taking a lot of time to prepare. Jack stuck his head into the kitchen and found Troy hard at work preparing dinner and decided to leave him alone for the time being.

Lucille arrived home just as Troy was serving and he gladly dished her up a plate. They ate in silence Lucille still preoccupied with work and Jack and Troy both too annoyed with each other to make conversation.

Jack finished first. "Training in 15 minutes" he announced to his son.

"I have a history paper due" Troy argued.

"You can do it after training" Jack said dismissively.

Lucille distracted didn't stick up for her son like she often would, so Troy left her the kitchen clean up and went outside to start warming up, making as much noise as possible. Sure enough Mr McElroy came out. Finding Troy alone the two had a quick conversation. "Isn't it a bit cold for this tonight young Troy?" he asked quietly.

"I missed practice at school today Mr McElroy. Dad's determined I make it up" Troy said resignedly. "I only hope he lets me finish in time to get some homework done too."

"Don't stop or you father will be out to check on you" Alistair said motioning for Troy to keep bouncing and shooting while they talked. "Don't you worry Troy I'll come out and kick up a fuss about eight-thirty. Does that give you enough time to get your work done?" he asked.

"Yes thank you Sir" Troy replied grinning.

"Okay then. I'd better go now before you father sees me" Alistair said smiling conspiratorially.

"Bye Sir" Troy said.

True to his word just after eight thirty Alistair McElroy arrived ranting about the noise of the basketball disturbing respectable people at all hours of the night.

Jack looked at his watch "It's twenty to nine" he said in disbelief.

"Yes and if you two had your way I'd be lying in bed still listening to your racket at twenty to twelve" Alistair retorted loudly. "Unlike you young folks I need my sleep."

"I'm sorry Mr McElroy" Troy said softly before going inside giving the elderly man a grin from behind his father's back.

He hurried upstairs and started on the research he needed to do for his history assignment. He quickly found the information he needed and started writing. Troy's teachers may not have known it, but he was a smart young man whose grades reflected more a lack of time available to complete his homework than a lack of ability or motivation. It annoyed Troy to have to turn in work half done, or done in a rush when he knew he could do so much better and he was the only one on the team truly thankful that principal Matsui enforced the passing all subjects and C average of better rule for participation in extracurricular activities for the team and that most of his teachers agreed with him and wouldn't award passing marks to bad work just to keep a player on the team.

Troy rang Gabriella briefly knowing she was inundated with homework as well, trying to catch up with the curriculum and arranged to pick her up to walk to school together.

"I don't know Troy it's supposed to storm tonight, maybe we should catch the bus" Gabriella said doubtfully.

"I'll pick you up and we can ride the bus if you want" Troy agreed.

Troy had to ring Gabriella next morning and apologise for not being able to pick her up for school. "Dad insisted on driving me in so we can train inside because of the storm" he explained.

"Are you already at school?" Gabriella asked sleepily, recognising the thud of the basket ball on the gym floor in the background.

"Yeah we got here half hour ago. Dad's just gone to unlock the locker rooms and stuff" Troy said tiredly.

"Has he been working you too hard again?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"No I couldn't run this morning so the exercise actually feels good. It's just getting me down being here with Dad and knowing he won't accept the person who I want to be" Troy said. "I've got to go."

"Okay I'll see you at school." Gabriella said disconnecting and getting up to shower and get ready to catch the bus to school.

"See you in homeroom" Troy said smiling.

Unfortunately for him his father kept him as long as he could and Troy slid into his seat as Ms Darbus called the class to order still dripping wet from the shower and didn't get a chance to talk to Gabriella who was accosted by Taylor about decathlon practices as soon as homeroom finished. Shrugging he waved to Gabriella and went to his next class.

**-o0o-**

"**What spell has this elevated-IQ temptress girl cast that suddenly makes you wanna be in a musical?" ** Chad asked as he ambushed Troy in the library where he was putting the finishing touches on his History assignment.

Chad was prepared to accept Troy's new friendship and even to lie to his coach to give Troy time to spend with her but auditioning for the musical made no sense to him.

"**Look, I just did it. Who cares?" **Troy asked wondering why Chad was so upset about it.

"**Who cares? How about your most loyal best friend?"** Chad demanded.

"**Quiet in here, Mr, Danforth" **the librarian hissed at him.

"**It's him, Miss Falsaff, not me" **Chad lied to the librarian without hesitation

"**Look, you're a hoops dude, not a musical singer person" **Chad told Troy causing him to sigh in disappointment**. **'Didn't anybody believe he could be something more than just a basketball player?' he thought.

"**Have you seen Michael Crawford on a cereal box?" ** Chad asked.

"**Who's Michael Crawford?" **Troy asked confused. What on earth was Chad talking about? Had he missed part of the conversation somehow?

"**Exactly my point. He was the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Now my mom, she's seen that musical 27 times and put Michael Crawford's picture in our refrigerator. Yeah, not on it, in it. So my point is, if you play basketball, you're gonna end up on the cereal box. If you're in musicals, you'll end up in my mom's refrigerator" **Chad declared.

"**Why in her refrigerator?" **Troy asked confused. He'd been in the Danforth's kitchen many many times and had never seen pictures in the refrigerator.

"**One of her crazy diet ideas, I won't attempt to understand the female mind. It's foreign territory"** Chad dismissed.

"**How can you expect the rest of us to be focused on a game if you're off somewhere in leotards singing "Twinkle Town?" **Chad asked.

"**No one said anything about leotards" **Troy said quickly.

"**Not yet, my friend, but just you wait"** Chad threatened**. "Look, we need you, Captain. Big time" **he said earnestly.

"**Mr, Danforth" **the librarian warned him again glaring.

"**I tried to tell him, Miss Falsaff"** Chad lied to her again**. "Really tried" **he added to himself.

-o0o-

"**Something isn't right" **Sharpay said as she walked past a classroom and saw members of the basketball team talking to members of the scholastic decathlon team. In actual fact Chad and Taylor were doing all the talking, the rest of the decathlon team were too shocked by the fact that they were capable of talking civilly to each other and agreeing on something.

"**Hey, look, We need to talk" **Chad said walking into the science room where the decathlon team minus Gabriella were hanging out together researching topics and practicing for the meet the following week.

Taylor looked up with surprise she didn't think Chad had ever voluntarily spoken to her before. **"Go"** she said slightly impatiently wanting to get back to work.

Chad leaned in and talked about how he wanted her help to stop Troy and Gabriella from auditioning for the musical call-backs.

Taylor agreed she wanted to help and listened to Chad describe his plan and what help he would need from her.

"**They must be trying to figure out a way to make sure Troy and Gabriella beat us out. The jocks rule most of the school but if they get Troy into a musical, then they've conquered the entire student body"** Ryan said worriedly.

"**And if those science girls get Gabriella hooked up with Troy Bolton, the scholastic club goes from drool to cool"** Sharpay said jealously**. "Ryan, we need to save our show from people who don't know the difference between a Tony Award and Tony Hawk" **she added dramatically beginning to plot.

"**Do you think that's going to work?"** Taylor asked dubiously. Chad's plan seemed simple enough providing he could manipulate Troy the way he thought he could and they could get the timing right to make sure Gabriella saw it. Though she could always tape it if Gabriella didn't stay to listen to her arguments at lunch time.

"**It's the only way to save Troy and Gabriella from themselves"** Chad said positively. Chad was so focussed on preventing his friend to from auditioning for the musical that he didn't stop to think about the other effects it would have on Troy's new relationship or how it would make Troy feel.

"**So we on?"** Chad asked.

"**Yeah"** Taylor agreed. She was too busy concentrating on whether they could do this, and how to do it to even consider whether they should.

"**Good, So we start Monday then?"** Chad confirmed.

"**OK, the first thing. **I'll set it up" Taylor stated.

"**Nice. Let's go" **Chad said jumping up ready to leave the geek hangout before he was seen.

"**Cool"** Taylor replied.

-o0o-

"What are you doing this weekend?" Troy asked Gabriella as he rang that evening.

"Painting the woodwork in my room. You did offer to help" Gabriella said.

"Sure I'll help. It will be good to get out of here for a bit" Troy agreed.

"Are things any better with your Dad?" Gabriella asked.

Troy sighed. "No the only reason I have time to call you is because it's too wet to practice. Mom arrived home about an hour ago and they were sniping at each other so much she's gone to bed early to get away from him" he said.

"So are you going out tonight or tomorrow night?" Gabriella asked.

"No I'm going to go play Xbox with Chad for a while then get some sleep" Troy said. "Maybe tomorrow."

Jack was still in a foul mood so Troy was tempted to go out the window. It sounded like his father was watching home video of their games though so he'd better tell him he was leaving. If coach came to drag him out to watch a play and found him missing he'd be grounded for sure.

"I'm going to Chad's" Troy called as he walked out the door.

"Troy come and see this first" he father called back.

"Sorry Dad Chad's waiting for me" Troy called knowing that if he sat down there'd be a never ending stream of one more things before he could go.

**-o0o-**

Troy arrived at the Montez house early Saturday morning dressed ready to paint the woodwork in her room.

"Hi Troy, Gabriella's still asleep" Maria said smiling.

"Do you want me to come back later?" Troy asked.

"Give me a moment and I'll wake her up" Maria said heading for the stairs. "Help yourself to the fruit bowl."

"Thanks Ms Montez" Troy said grinning.

Gabriella woke as Maria entered her room. "It's too early" she complained sleepily.

"Troy's here. Did you ask him to help you paint the window?" Maria asked.

Gabriella groaned and looked at the clock. "I should have known better than to not give him a time" she grumbled.

"He did offer to come back later" Maria said.

"No I'm getting up" Gabriella said.

"I'll let him know that you'll be down shortly" Maria said smiling.

"Thanks Mom" Gabriella replied.

Maria walked back downstairs to find Troy sitting in the kitchen. "She's getting up" Maria said.

Troy smiled. "I should have known she didn't like getting up so early on the weekend" he said.

"And she should have given you an actual time to meet" Maria countered. "She admitted that she knew you'd be up early. Besides it's almost nine o'clock it's not like you showed up at dawn."

"Of course not no-one was awake" Troy said.

"How did you know that?" Maria asked slightly concerned.

"I run past here on my eight mile route" Troy said casually. "I came past about twenty to six and all the lights were out. I've always come this way, it's not like I was stalking you or Gabriella" he added anxiously realising how it might sound.

Maria laughed. "So you've run eight mile this morning. What else have you done while Gabriella and I wasted the morning sleeping?"

"Not much the neighbours complain about the noise if I'm out practicing basketball too early and Mom told me off during the week for running the washer and dryer while she was trying to sleep so I left the washing for her today. I cooked breakfast and did some homework" Troy said smiling in amusement at something.

"Your mother complained about you doing your own laundry" Maria asked amazed.

"Well it was five thirty in the morning" Troy explained grinning.

Maria groaned "I hate to dissuade anyone from doing their chores but I think I agree with her on that one."

Gabriella came into the kitchen yawning.

"The morning's half over Gabriella" Troy teased.

"Bite me" Gabriella snapped.

"I would but you're Mom's watching" Troy replied winking at Maria who was having trouble hiding her laughter.

"Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed scandalised.

"Good Morning Gabriella" Troy said a little too innocently.

"I have some errands to run. The paint and painting things are in the cupboard under the stairs" Maria said collecting her keys and bag.

"I'll go up and get started taping the edges while you eat" Troy suggested wanting to give her time to regain her equilibrium.

"Thanks Troy" Gabriella said flashing him a quick smile.

Troy walked upstairs and started work taping all the glass edges on the multi-paned doors took quite a bit of time and Troy was only half done when Gabriella came in. She grabbed the other roll of tape and moved to help but they kept getting in each other's way. Troy couldn't resist tickling Gabriella.

"Troy" Gabriella squealed. "Stop that and go and tape around the door" she ordered giggling breathlessly.

"Yes Ma'am" Troy responded cheekily. "Do we need to take the door off?" he asked.

"No it should be okay. Just make sure that there's newspaper underneath where it swings open" Gabriella said. They got the first coat on before lunch. "You're right the white looks way better than the cream" Troy said slightly surprised by how much difference it made.

"You spent all morning doing this and you didn't believe it would make a difference?" Gabriella exclaimed.

"I promised I'd help you paint your room whatever colour you wanted" Troy reminded her. "Besides I get to spend the day with you."

The gloss paint took longer to dry between coats so they sat in the lounge and watched a movie. Troy had hoped she'd cuddle up beside him nut she sat primly on the other side of the couch. Perhaps he shouldn't have teased her by stripping off his painting clothes in front of her.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, ENPD and softball11 for your support.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

She left the room as soon as Troy began to change again to paint the second coat avoiding letting him have the opportunity to tease her though she really hadn't seen anything more scandalous than the back of his undershorts.

It was nearly three o'clock by the time they had finished painting.

"Are you ready to go see Kelsi?" Troy asked as he finished changing back into his regular clothes.

"Yeah though I have no idea how to get there" Gabriella said.

"It's not that far from here" Troy said as they set off in a direction she hadn't walked before. It took just over 15 minutes to get to Kelsi's. They knocked on the door and she dragged them onto the house enthusiastically. "Hey Dad this is Troy and Gabriella" she said as she rushed past her father and out the back door to a shed built at the back of the garden.

Troy whistled as he looked around. The shed had been roughly lined with boards inside to about 5'8'' and Troy could see that the gap between the outer wall and the lining had been filled with small pieces of poly styrene box. The roof was also lined.

"Home made soundproofing?" Gabriella asked also enthralled by the idea. "How well does it work?"

"Go back out and shut the door for a minute" Kelsi said sitting at the piano.

Troy and Gabriella stood outside they could barely hear the piano and they were right against the door. Troy took a couple of steps and realised he couldn't hear it at all.

"That's fantastic" Troy exclaimed.

"My Dad works shift" Kelsi explained." One week of days, one week afternoons, one week nights and then a week off. The piano was keeping him awake so he moved it out here and started to line the shed. It insulates the temperature and protects the instruments as well."

"Do you sleep out here too?" Gabriella asked seeing a bed in the corner.

"No Mom won't let me, she thinks I'd stay up all night playing" Kelsi said her blush giving away the fact her mother was likely correct.

Troy laughed. "I used to sneak out to play basketball after I'd been sent to bed" he admitted. "Of course I was always caught. I didn't realise how loud the sound of a basketball bouncing on the concrete can be in the still of the night."

Gabriella and Kelsi both laughed at him.

"I used to read under the covers with the torch I' stolen from the emergency kit. Of course then we'd have an emergency and the torch was missing or all the batteries were flat and I'd be in trouble" Gabriella confessed.

"Let's get started" Kelsi suggested starting to play their song. Troy and Gabriella hadn't heard each other sing this for a couple of days and they relaxed into the rhythm, Troy fooling around d with actions while Gabriella watched trying not to laugh.

"He's got the right idea" Kelsi said. "You got away with standing and singing the first time because you weren't really auditioning but you've got to move around the stage and dance a bit at the call-backs. It's got to look good as well as sounding great."

Gabriella paled. "I don't know that I can do that in front of everyone. I can look at Troy and just sing but to dance I'd have to pay attention to everything else around me too" she said.

"Come and dance with me now" Troy encouraged taking her hand. "Just try it."

Gabriella took his hand and danced clumsily with him as they sang. Troy's singing and his smile relaxed her and soon she was going with the flow as he twirled her around and danced with her.

"That's really good. The sets for this scene include a big moon. It isn't painted yet but the woodwork department have finished building it. We can use that for the call backs" Kelsi said enthusiastically.

"A big moon" Gabriella said blankly.

"Yeah it's a crescent about twice as tall as you" Kelsi said. "I have keys to the music room we can get backstage from there. I could meet you there to practice tomorrow afternoon and you could see it and practice moving around the stage it's much bigger than this or an empty classroom."

"Tomorrow would be good" Troy said. "There's no chance of Ryan and Sharpay being there is there?" he asked.

"I don't think Ms Darbus gave them a key. They have their own rehearsal studio at home with wall to wall mirrors and stuff so they've never asked to use the school to rehearse" Kelsi said thoughtfully.

"Wall to wall mirror's Chad was right" Troy laughed. "He said that's what she spent her holidays doing."

Gabriella and Kelsi laughed hysterically. "Well I never thought I'd be grateful she's so self-centred" Kelsi said setting the other two off again. It wasn't all that funny but the three of them having fun together away from the pressures of school and public images just clicked and everything was better brighter funnier when they were together.

Kelsi's step-brother came out banging on the door. "Time to come in for dinner loser" he called.

Kelsi's face fell and Gabriella quickly wrapped her arms around her new friend while Troy went to the door to tell they intruder off. "Kelsi's not a loser" he began angrily. Stopping in surprise when he saw the senior quarterback sanding there.

"Hey Troy! What're you doing here are you coming to the party tonight?" Joshua asked cheerfully.

"I'm hanging out with my friend Kelsi. My friend who you owe an apology" Troy said firmly.

"You're friends with my stepsister?" Joshua asked incredulously. "I didn't think she put out."

Troy grabbed him. "We're not that sort of friends you moron. Now you owe her two apologies so you better make it really good" he said threateningly.

"I'm sorry Man" Joshua said quickly. He might have been a year older than Troy and the starting quarterback on the varsity football team but that didn't mean much at East High where Troy was the undisputed king of the sporting departments and had been since the start of his sophomore year.

"Not to me you fool. Apologise to Kelsi" Troy demanded.

"I'm sorry Kelsi" Joshua said really thinking about how he'd been treating his stepsister. "Dinner's ready" he told her trying to pass on the message so he could escape.

"Thanks Troy" Kelsi said softly watching her stepbrother leave.

"No problem Kels. But what's he doing here?"

"He's my stepbrother. We used to get along okay when we were younger but then he became cool and I'm obviously not so he didn't want me hanging around" Kelsi explained sadly.

"Well I think you're a lot cooler than he is" Troy said smiling at his new friends.

Kelsi laughed "Well if the Troy Bolton says so then it must be true" she declared dramatically.

Gabriella laughed "My opinion might not carry the weight of THE Troy Bolton but I think your cool too Kelsi" she said.

"Thanks you guys. I'll see you at school tomorrow, about two o'clock? I've got to babysit my little brother in the morning" Kelsi asked eagerly.

"See you tomorrow Kelsi" Troy said smiling.

"See you at school at two o'clock" Gabriella confirmed.

Kelsi showed them the path around the house then went in for dinner. Joshua looked at her curiously but didn't say anything in front of their parents.

Troy and Gabriella walked home. It was starting to get chilly and Gabriella shivered a little. Troy immediately shucked off his jacket and offered it to her.

"I couldn't Troy you'd freeze" Gabriella protested.

"I'm fine Gabriella, it's just denim it's not a big deal" Troy said.

"So you loaning me a different jacket would be a big deal?" Gabriella asked sarcastically.

Troy laughed "Not to me, you're welcome to any of my clothes but letting you wear my basketball jacket with my name across the back would be a very big deal at school" he confirmed.

Gabriella put his jacket on and Troy wrapped his arm across her shoulders to try to keep her warm. "I'm sorry for making you walk out in the cold. I know you hate it" he said.

They arrived at Gabriella's house and Troy went up to her room to collect his bag of painting clothes, Gabriella looked around for something else to do, a reason to ask him to stay.

"I should go" Troy said reluctantly.

"You don't have to. Did you bring your homework with you?" she asked eyeing his bag.

"No I didn't, I should get home to make a start on it" Troy answered.

"Are you going out tonight?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged. "I don't think so, one of the guys on the football team is having a party but I don't have to go" Troy replied. "Besides the cheerleaders haven't spoken to me since I gave Liana that photo and letter Tuesday morning. I don't know how welcome I'd be."

"Will your friends be there? Surely you could hang out with them?" Gabriella asked.

"Probably but I'm not in the mood to party and I have too much work to do tomorrow to spend half the day sleeping off a hangover" Troy answered. "Don't worry Gabriella I don't want to go."

"Can you come over and study with me tomorrow?" Gabriella invited.

"Yeah I'd like to. What time?" he asked.

"Not before ten" Gabriella said firmly.

Troy laughed "Ten o'clock it is but you'd better be up" he teased.

"Bye Troy" Gabriella said laughing too.

-o0o-

Troy was up early Sunday morning he went for a longer run and then checked the laundry. No washing had been done since the day his mother had complained about him running the washer too early in the morning and the basket was overflowing. Troy sighed and sorted out his own things to put in the washer. He went up and changed the sheets on his bed and brought the rest of his washing down for the next load. He tidied his room and left it to vacuum later then moved down to clean out the fridge and made a menu for the week and a list for his Mom or Dad to do the shopping remembering to add the things they'd need for the post season barbeque. He was in the middle of cleaning the lounge by the time his mother came downstairs dressed for work.

Troy sighed "morning Mom" he said.

"Seven o'clock on a Sunday morning is too early to run the washer" she said mildly.

"Sorry" Troy said offhandedly "I have a couple of loads to wash and I'm busy later." He refused to feel guilty for doing his own washing when it suited him when she clearly hadn't done any in the two weeks they'd been home from vacation. "Now you're up I can get the vacuuming done before I go" he said.

"Where are you going?" Lucille asked.

"To get some studying done. If I stay here alone with Dad he'll drag me out for extra training all day" Troy said bluntly.

"He only wants to make you the best you can be" Lucille said mildly.

"How can it possibly be in my best interests to get kicked off the team for failing math?" Troy asked sarcastically.

"Troy..." His mother began tiredly.

"Don't bother" Troy brushed her off. "See you next weekend" he said grabbing the vacuum and carting it upstairs.

For a moment Lucille wondered where Troy was planning to go and then she realised he wasn't going anywhere. He was just complaining again about how much time she'd spent working lately. She shook her head and vowed to delegate more so she could cut back her hours, unfortunately that resolve lasted only until midafternoon when it was forgotten in the crush of deadlines and increasing workload.

Just before ten Troy headed over to Gabriella's with his books. He hadn't seen his father for hours. Jack had spent most of the morning holed up in his office trying to grade the assignments the 9th Graders had turned in on Friday.

"Hi Troy" Gabriella said answering the door.

"Hey Gabriella" Troy grinned.

Gabriella led him into the dining room where she already had homework spread out on the table. Troy smiled to think that unlike other times he'd been invited over to a girl's house to do homework Gabriella actually expected him to get his work done. He got out his books and started work on his English essay.

They worked in silence for about an hour exchanging smiles every now and then.

Troy's phone rang just before twelve o'clock. He checked the caller ID before he answered. "Yo" he said.

Gabriella looked at him in surprise. She'd never heard him answer like that. 'Chad' he mouthed at her. Gabriella smiled and got up to give the boys some privacy. She headed into the kitchen and made some sandwiches, adding cookies, fruit salad and two glasses of milk on the tray she carefully carried it back into the dining room as Troy finished his conversation.

"Where were you? You missed a great party last night bro" Chad asked.

"I wasn't feeling it man" Troy made excuses. "Besides the cheerleaders and I aren't on the best terms" he added.

"What you do?" Chad asked.

"Warned them off hurting Gabriella" Troy said not explaining how he'd done it.

Chad winced and almost had second thoughts about his plan but figured that he wouldn't actually be hurting Gabriella just helping her to realise that she and Troy should not be auditioning for the musical. If Troy said more than that it would be his own fault.

"Do you wanna hang out, Zeke and Jason are coming over to play X-box?" Chad asked.

"Sorry mate I'm busy" Troy said not giving details.

"Okay man. Catch you later" Chad replied.

"Later Bro" Troy replied, he smiled at Gabriella.

"You hungry?" she asked.

"Always" Troy admitted. He set his work aside and they ate lunch.

"How's your work going?" Gabriella asked.

"I've got a lot done" Troy said smiling. "I still have some stuff to finish though, you?"

"I'm getting there" Gabriella said.

Troy finished all of his homework about a quarter to two and sat back stretching with a satisfied smile.

Gabriella looked up. "All done?" She asked smiling.

"Yeah. What about you?" Troy asked.

"I finished a while ago I'm just rereading Macbeth" Gabriella said.

"Why didn't you say something? How's Macbeth going?" he asked.

"I'm enjoying it" Gabriella admitted. "I'm nearly finished it. Next week's going to be crazy with the auditions and the Championship. You needed to be as caught up on your homework as possible" Gabriella said practically. "It's time to go and meet Kelsi."

"Okay let's go. You better grab a coat it might be cold later" Troy suggested.

Gabriella laughed "Is that a warning that you're not going to give me your jacket tonight?" she asked teasingly.

"This jacket's not as warm as the one I wore yesterday" Troy said mildly. "You can borrow it if you wanted but you'd be more comfortable bringing your own as well."

Gabriella laughed and ran to get a coat. She came down with her heavy ski jacket. "It might be cold in the auditorium with the heat turned off for the weekend" she justified as Troy burst out laughing.

"You wore this coat the night we first met" Troy said smiling.

"Yeah I did" Gabriella said pleased Troy had remembered. Troy held her hand as they walked towards the school and Gabriella wondered if it meant anything. Troy often held her hand as they walked but he'd never said anything about wanting to go out with her or be more than friends.

Kelsi was waiting for them outside the school and she quickly opened the door for them, locking it again behind her.

They headed for the stage and Kelsi showed them the moon. They slid it out carefully and put it stage right then went to the back of the auditorium to have a look. That's gonna look great when it's painted" Troy said.

"I better make sure it gets done in time for the call-backs" Gabriella agreed.

They went back up and started practicing. By five o'clock Gabriella was covered in a light sheen of sweat and her legs were aching but they had worked out their dance and learned it. "We did it" she said excitedly.

"We did" Troy said picking up Gabriella and twirling her around. He carried her over to Kelsi at the piano. "Thanks Kelsi we couldn't have done it without you" he said smiling.

"Thanks but we better get out of here before it gets too dark" Kelsi said. They hadn't wanted to turn on the main lights for fear of alerting security.

They waited while Kelsi locked up and Troy offered to walk her home as it was starting to get dark. Gabriella frowned at the thought. She knew it was the right thing to do to see that their friend got home safely but her legs were killing her.

"Thanks Troy but perhaps we should take Gabriella home first, she's limping" Kelsi suggested.

Troy frowned at that, he and Kelsi were becoming friends but he wanted to be with Gabriella. "No problem he said and knelt on one knee in front of Gabriella. "Your chariot awaits Milady" he said turning so she could climb on his back.

Gabriella giggled and wrapped her arms and legs around his back allowing him to piggyback her. They walked towards Kelsi'd dropping her at home then returned to Gabriella's where Troy had left his books.

"Hello Gabriella, Troy" Maria answered the door and greeted them laughing as she saw Troy piggyback her into the house and place her gently on the couch. "Troy would you like to stay for dinner?"

"I would love to ma'am, I just need to ring home and see if it's okay" Troy replied taking out his phone and calling the house.

"Bolton residence" Jack answered.

"Hey Dad I've been invited out for dinner. Can I stay?" he asked.

"Where are you?" his father asked.

"I spent the afternoon with my new math tutor and her family have invited me to stay for dinner" Troy explained avoiding mentioning Gabriella's name.

"Did you get the rest of your homework done?" Jack asked.

"Yeah" Troy confirmed. "Is Mom home to cook you dinner?" he asked.

"She's just pulled in to the drive. She is pretty upset with you Troy" Jack said.

"So can I stay for dinner?" Troy asked.

"Yeah but don't be home too late. I want to get some practice with intercepting in before McElroy comes out whinging about the noise" Jack said.

"Sure Dad. Thanks" he said disconnecting.

"Dad says I can stay" he said smiling. Gabriella smiled and gave him a quick congratulatory hug.

What she's overheard of the phone call disturbed Maria Montez on several levels, the fact that he'd avoided saying who'd invited him for dinner and the way he'd checked his mother was home as well as some of his facial expressions as he'd spoken to his father. "That's good Troy" she said hiding her misgivings. "Dinner will be half an hour."

"Troy's going to help me rearrange the furniture and put my room back together properly now the paints dry" Gabriella said dragging him up the stairs.

They shoved the furniture back against the walls and Troy stood on the ladder to rehang the curtains.

"It looks really good" he said looking around.

"It will. I still have pictures and stuff to hang" Gabriella said smiling. "Thanks for the help Troy." She sat on her bed and started to rub her feet.

"Here let me" Troy said coming over to sit on the floor at her feet he placed one foot on his lap and massaged it gently making Gabriella moan.

"Shit Gabriella, don't make noises like that. You're mom will think I'm up to something I shouldn't be" Troy said panicking.

Maria ducked her head in to see what they were doing worried by Troy's comment. She almost laughed when she saw him on the floor. "After all there's no point behaving if you're not going to get the credit for it" she agreed startling Troy and Gabriella. "I came up to tell you dinner's ready."

Troy ate enthusiastically complimenting Maria several times on her cooking. "Doesn't your mother cook Troy?" Maria asked curiously.

"She's a good cook when she's not too busy. I do most of the cooking at home" Troy replied. "It's a real treat to have a meal I haven't cooked."

"And one that doesn't fit into your crazy diet" Gabriella said.

"Oh I didn't even think about it. I shouldn't be helping you blow your diet" Maria said guiltily.

"Don't worry about it Maria, this is a healthy meal. It isn't going to do me any harm" Troy reassured her.

"The food in the cafeteria isn't that bed either" Gabriella commented. "I've certainly had plenty worse."

"Yeah most of it's okay, I just never know if I'm going to have time to line up and eat so it's easier to bring my own. My diet's not crazy it's just high in protein to promote muscle growth and healing."

"I could always buy your lunch when I buy mine" Gabriella offered. "Let me know if you ever need me to" she added not pushing the issue.

Troy smiled "Thanks Gabriella" he said glad that unlike when Liana had made the offer she seemed to be genuinely trying to do him a favour.

They had a pleasant dinner though Maria would only let him eat one cookie for desert saying that his father wouldn't let him come again if she filled him full of foods not on his diet plan. Gabriella winked and slipped him a second one under the table when Maria got up to clear the plates.

Troy offered to wash the dishes but Maria refused so Gabriella walked him to the door.

"Good night Troy" she said kissing his cheek.

Troy smiled at that and kissed her back chastely on the mouth. "Good night Gabriella. I'll pick you up in the morning?" he said questioningly.

"Yeah! I'll see you in the morning" Gabriella agreed.

Troy walked home whistling he'd had a great weekend. Even the hour and a half of training he did outside in the freezing temperatures with his father before Alistair McElroy came out to complain about the noise didn't dampen his spirits. He slept well and was up and outside running well before dawn.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, ceciliaa93, iigothicxxxgirl666, LaueeeCarter, ENPD, dragonfire196 and guest for your support.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.

Troy and Gabriella walked to school enjoying the early morning sunshine. It was still cold and Gabriella was rugged up in her coat and hat. They were discussing their schedules for the day.

"I have rehearsal with Kelsi in free period then Basketball practice at lunch and after school. Uncle Steve's picking me up after practice to babysit Jakie tonight" Troy said.

"I have rehearsal with Kelsi during lunch, and I'm going to sign up to paint sets during free period so I can start painting the moon" Gabriella replied smiling.

"Sounds like we're not going to see much of each other today" Troy said frowning.

"We can talk tonight once your cousin's asleep" Gabriella reminded him.

"Yeah" Troy said smiling again. They walked to class absently saying hello to Chad who was hanging about on the front steps.

-o0o-

"**So, my watch is 7:45 Mountain Standard time, We synched?"** Chad said meeting Taylor as she arrived. "Troy and Gabriella are in the building."

"**Whatever"** Taylor said wondering how she'd agreed to work with this idiot.

"**Then we're on go mode for lunch, exactly 12:05" **Chad said.

"**Yes, Chad, we're a go. But we're not Charlie's Angels, OK?" ** Taylor said rolling her eyes.

"**I can dream, can't I?"** Chad said trying to smile charmingly. Taylor was unimpressed.

-o0o-

Troy and Kelsi enjoyed their rehearsal in free period. "It's sounding really good. You and Gabriella are going to be a big hit" Kelsi said enthusiastically.

"Have you heard Ryan and Sharpay's call back song?" Troy asked.

"I wrote it" Kelsi said, "but I haven't heard what they've done with it. It was the fastest pace song I wrote for the musicale so I doubt they've changed it too much."

Kelsi looked sad and Troy hurried to try to reassure her. "Kels it's okay. Gabriella and I are going to do our best to win the call-backs and even if Ryan and Sharpay get the roles then I'll help you stand up to them, make them play your music the way it was written. They don't have the right to change it."

"Thanks Troy" Kelsi said giving him a quick hug. "Meeting you and Gabriella has given me so much confidence. With you behind me I can stand up for my music."

-o0o-

**"Spider" Bill Netrine, class of '72. He was the MVP in the league championship game" **Chad said holding up his picture as the team gathered waiting for Troy to walk in to the locker room to get ready for practice at the start of lunch.

**Sam Nedler, class of '02. Also known as "Sammy Slamma Jamma. Captain, MVP of the league championship team" **Zeke added also holding up a picture.

Jason held up another picture and said. **The "Thunder Clap," Hap Hadden, '95. Led the Wildcats to back-to-back city championships. A legend" **

"**Yes, Legends, one and all. But do you think that any of these Wildcat legends became legends by getting involved in musical auditions days before the league championships?"** Chad asked incredulously.

"**Get your head in the game!"** The team chanted.

"**No. These Wildcat legends became legends because they never took their eye off the prize" **Chad told him passionately.

The team chanted again **"Get your head in the game!"**

"**Who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity?"** Chad asked the team.

"**Troy!" ** the team cheered enthusiastically.

Chad asked them** "Who voted him team captain this year?"**

"**Us!" **they chorused.

"**And who is gonna get their butts kicked in Friday's championship game if Troy's worried about an audition?" **Chad asked more sombrely.

"**We are" **The team responded despondently.

"**Guys, come on. There's 12 people on this team, not just me"** Troy protested.

"**Just 12? Oh, no, I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad"** Chad said handing over another photo.

Troy took it and turned it over. **"My dad"** Troy said his heart sinking. If his friends were taking is father's side in this then life was going to be impossible. He didn't understand why none of them could see that he wanted more from like than being the basketball guy. The guy that lived and breathed nothing but basketball that trained nearly five hours every day. The guy whose whole life from what he ate what time he went to bed and got up revolved around improving his skills on the court.

"**Yes, Troy. Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1981. Champion, father, and now coach. It's a winning tradition like no other" **Chad said sincerely.

"**From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, to early warriors, medieval knights. All leading up to... lunkhead basketball man. Yes, our culture worshiped the aggressor throughout the ages and we end up with spoiled, overpaid bonehead athletes who contribute little to civilization other than slam dunks and touchdowns. That is the inevitable world of Troy Bolton" **Taylor ranted.

"**But the path of the mind, the path we're on, ours is the path that has brought us these people: Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Sandra Day O'Connor, Madame Curie, Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey and so many others who the world reveres"**

Gabriella watched bemused as to why Taylor would be preaching at her like this. The others all seemed to be okay with it though so either Taylor did this regularly or they were in on whatever plan Taylor had. She wondered what she was trying to do. **"Uh, but, what is...? I've got Kelsi waiting for me to rehearse" **she said trying to make excuses to leave.

"**Gabriella! Troy Bolton represents one side of evolution, And our side, the side of education and accomplishment is the future of civilization! This is the side where you belong" **Taylor lectured not letting her go.

"**Guys, if you don't know that I'll put a 110% of my guts into that game, then you don't know me" **Troy said getting mad that they thought he wasn't pulling his weight. Didn't they realise the pressure he was already under from his father.

"**But we just thought..." **Chad started to say.

"**I'll tell you what I thought. I thought that you're my friends. Win together, lose together, teammates" **Troy interrupted him, angry and hurt.

"**But suddenly the girl... and the singing"** Chad said suspiciously.

Troy lost his temper. Why couldn't they see he wasn't harming their chances of winning the championship. Why couldn't they trust him. **"Man, I'm for the team! I've always been for the team. She's just someone I met. All right the singing thing is nothing. Probably just A way to keep my nerves down. I don't know. It means nothing to me. You're my guys and this is our team. Gabriella is not important. I'll forget about her, forget the audition and we'll get that championship. Everyone happy now?"**

Gabriella watched the closed circuit television in horror she couldn't believe that Troy's friends had conspired with Taylor to do this. It had to have been planned out by Taylor and the decathlon team and the basketball team to have it recorded like this. And Why? Clearly Taylor was still trying to get her to agree to be on the decathlon team. But for the Basketball team to turn on Troy like that was really out of character. Troy was going to be incredibly hurt by this. Watching Troy say those things hurt enormously and she wished he'd spoken to her directly about the pressure his friends were putting on him to drop out of the call-backs. Hearing him say that not only would he drop the call-backs but that she meant nothing to him broke her heart.

"**Behold lunkhead basketball man" **Taylor said gesturing to the screen with a smirk. **"So, Gabriella, we'd love to have you for the scholastic decathlon. Did you wanna grab some lunch?"** she asked.

Gabriella shook her head. She couldn't believe that after doing that Taylor had the temerity to invite her to lunch with them. Couldn't Taylor or any of them see how upset she was? That she was hurt by their actions. Didn't they realise that she was smart enough to realise that they had to be involved in setting this up. Did they just expect her to say that they were right all along about Troy and decide that they were better friends to have.

Taylor seemed to realise that she needed some time alone even if she didn't notice the depth of hurt she had caused. **"Well, we'll be there if you wanna come"** she said obliviously.

Once she was alone however it was Troy's betrayal that hurt the most. How could he have said those things? Even if Chad was manipulating him surely if her friendship was as important to him as his friendship was to her he couldn't have betrayed her like that. She sat there alone looking out the window at the crowd cheering and singing as the Basketball team came out and stood on the edge of the fountain, the cheerleaders doing their jobs at stirring up support for the team amongst the student body. The celebrations outside made her feel even more isolated.

Was it wishful thinking or did Troy look slightly uncomfortable standing there with his friends. She sat thinking and decided that if it would make it easier for Troy she would pull out of the call-backs as well. She felt bad letting Kelsi down like that but heaven knows she didn't want to deal with Sharpay Evans on her own. She wondered whether it was worth trying to continue her friendship with Troy. It seems he had been right in trying to tell her it would be easier to maintain their relationship if nobody at school knew about it, just not for the reasons he thought.

Gabriella considered telling Troy what had happened but if she decided that she didn't want to continue their friendship then he would need the support of his team and his friends. To destroy his trust in his team when she wasn't prepared to offer any support herself to help him deal with it seemed too cruel.

**-o0o-**

"**Hey, how you doin'?" **Troy said cheerfully as he came up to her at the end of lunch. He felt a little guilty about lying about Gabriella and the auditions to the boys, but he figured if he gave up rehearsing during school hours he'd be able to keep his team happy and get them off his back while still doing the call-backs with Gabriella. The hallway was filled with students cheering and singing theme songs all hyped up from the pep rally. "**Listen there's something I wanna talk to you about" **he added.

Gabriella didn't give him the time to say anything. **"And here it is: I know what it's like to carry a load with your friends. I get it, You've got your boys, Troy. It's OK, So we're good"** she said as firmly as she could.

Troy looked at her totally confused. **"Good about what? I wanna talk about the final call-backs"** he said.

Gabriella cut him off again not sure she could bear to hear his say he didn't want to sing with her. **"I don't want to do the call-backs either. Who are we trying to kid? You've got your team and now I've got mine. I'll do the scholastic decathlon and you'll win the championships. It's where we belong. Go, Wildcats"** she said trying to sound unaffected.

Troy looked gutted. **"But I..." **he protested.

Gabriella still wouldn't let him speak. **"Me neither" **she said walking away.

Troy stood there as the crowd hyped up from the pep rally at lunchtime came past chanting and cheering. In that moment he hated them for their cheerfulness. Couldn't they see he was hurting?

"**Gabriella?"** he called after her but Gabriella didn't turn around. If she had he would have seen the tears running down her cheeks proving that this hurt her as much as it hurt him.

**-o0o-**

Troy was quiet that afternoon paying minimal attention to his studies and even less to his friends. He couldn't work out why Gabriella had suddenly pulled out of the call-backs. Ha her friends tried to guilt her into pulling out like his friends did. The afternoon seemed endless but luckily there was a compulsory staff meeting that afternoon so there was no official training. Troy text Gabriella between classes and again at the end of the school day but she didn't reply. He began to get concerned that Gabriella hadn't just had second thoughts about doing the call-backs but about being his friend at all.

Troy knew he was expected to show up and train outside with the team anyway and normally these informal training sessions were a lot of fun but he couldn't find the energy to interact with the team after the ambush they'd confronted him with at lunch. He pulled on his uniform and warm up gear silently and went to run instead of play.

"**Hey, Captain!" **one of the seniors called only to have Troy wave them off as he took off.

"**What's with Troy?" **Zeke asked concerned. Troy hadn't been himself since they'd ambushed him at lunch but instead of starting to get over it he seemed to be getting worse as they day went on.

"**Don't worry about it" **Chad tried to reassure the others that Troy was okay but inside he was worried he'd never seen his friend like this.

Troy pushed himself as hard as he could hoping that the pain in his chest and legs would distract him from the sadness in his heart. He kept running for a while after the others had gone inside hopful they'd all be dressed and gone by the time he entered the change rooms.

Chad had waited for him but after Troy walked dejectedly past into the shower without acknowledging his presence decided to leave him be.

Troy exited the showers and text his Uncle that he was at the front of the school ready to be picked up before texting Gabriella again.

Gabriella didn't respond but Steve arrived a few minutes later. "Hey Troy! How's it going? You all set to win the championship?" he asked jovially as Troy climbed into the car.

"Yeah I guess" Troy said listlessly.

"Something wrong?" Steve asked.

"Yeah but I don't know what happened. Gabriella just decided that she didn't want to be my friend anymore. She's pulled out of the..." Troy put his hands over his mouth.

"I take it this is something you don't want your father to know?" Steve asked calmly.

Troy shook his head. "He's met her and I think he knows about the call-backs. I don't think he knows how much she means to me. You promise not to tell him?" Troy asked.

"I promise. Now you like this girl?" Steve asked smirking

"No Yes, she's a friend. We auditioned for the school musical together and got offered a call-back, but then this afternoon she decides she doesn't want to do it and tells me to go spend time with my team where I belong" Troy says sighing.

"You auditioned for a musical?" Steve asked astonished.

"Didn't I tell you about it last week?" Troy asked.

Steve thought back "Yeah I think you might have mentioned it while I was complaining about the light opera performance I had to sit through that night" he admitted. "Sorry Troy it slipped my mind."

Troy sighed "That's okay, it doesn't seem like it's gonna happen now anyway" he said.

"You really wanted to do these call-backs. It wasn't just to impress the girl?" Steve asked.

"I wasn't sure at first but yeah I was really getting into it. I thought we both were" Troy said his voice showing his confusion at what happened.

"Troy what are you more upset about? Pulling out of the call-backs or the girl not returning your call or text?" Steve asked.

"Gabriella" Troy admitted. "I thought we had something special" he said sadly.

Steve sighed, he remembered meeting a girl seemed to change the world and how much it hurt. But there was always another girl around the corner. "Troy you're in High School. Yes it hurts like hell the first time you lose your heart to someone but it will happen many times before you meet the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with" he said.

Troy didn't respond.

"Hey are you up to looking after Jacob tonight? We could reschedule" Steve offered.

"No I'm fine. It will be good to spend time with Jakie" Troy said smiling slightly.

"If you're sure" Steve said as they arrived at the house. "He's been looking forward to seeing you."

"Then let's go" Troy said jumping out of the car.

They entered the house and Jakie came running hitting Troy full pelt. Luckily he saw him coming and had braced himself for the impact. He swooped him up. "Hey Jakie, no running in the house" he said hugging him.

"Twoy. Twoy. Outsi" Jacob demanded.

"Let's ask Mommy first Buddy" Troy replied. "Hey Aunt Deb" he called.

"Hi Troy" Debra came to the kitchen door.

"Can I take Jakie O-U-T-S-I-D-E for a while?" Troy spelled.

Deb frowned at the nickname but nodded "Just make sure Jacob keeps his coat hat and gloves on" she replied. "And don't stay out too long it'll be getting cold soon."

Troy wrestled Jacob into his coat and gloves and started the ongoing argument about the hat. "Jakie if you don't leave your hat on, we can't go outside" he said.

"Outsi" Jacob crowed.

"Outside with Hat on" Troy said putting the hat back in again and t lifting him up to carry him outside.

Putting Jacob down on the grass Troy rolled the ball for him. Jacob picked it up and tried to throw it back to Troy. They played happily for nearly half an hour before Debra came out to call them in.

"You Boltons. Determined to make him a basketball player" Debra grumbled.

"Only if he wants to" Troy said. "I would like him to enjoy playing but it's up to him."

"You really mean that" Debra said surprised.

"Yeah I do Aunt Deb I want him to be free to choose his own sport and I never want him to feel he has to be good at basketball to be worthy of attention" Troy said seriously.

"I agree Troy, Jacob is going to be allowed to choose his own path" Debra said. "Now we'll be back around eleven, dinners in the oven and it'll be ready in about fifteen minutes. Have a good evening. Don't let him get too tired and grumpy or you'll have trouble, he's getting harder to put down for the night."

"I know Aunt Deb, I'll take good care of him" Troy promised.

Steve smiled as he ushered his wife out the door "We know you will Troy" he said.

Left on his own with the little boy Troy stripped off his coat and rescued his hat and mittens from the floor to put away. He turned up the heat in the kitchen so he could strip Jakie down to his singlet and nappy to eat to let him feed himself without worrying about ruining his clothes. The oven timer pinged and he strapped Jakie into his high chair giving him a toy to occupy himself with while Troy dished up his dinner. Troy dished up and cutup Jakie's food before realising that it was still too hot for him. Grabbing an apple he quickly peeled and sliced it giving it to the little boy while he ate his own dinner.

Jacob had a lot of fun eating his dinner. Troy was a lot more relaxed about mess than his parents were (probably because he didn't have to deal with it every day) and let him use his hands when he got frustrated with the spoon. Troy ran upstairs to put the heat on in the bathroom and when he came back he had to groan. Jacob had tipped the still partly full bowl on his head and was wearing it like a hat. He quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a picture before pulling off his shirt so he could clean up the little boy without wearing too much of the mess himself.

Carrying him upstairs he started the shower before plonking him in the empty bath while he stripped off his shoes and pants, undressed Jakie tested the water and stepped in holding the squirming slippery child.

Jakie fought having his hair washed but Troy persevered, he found the showering was getting easier with all the practice he had on the holidays and enjoyed the process almost as much as Jacob.

Troy dressed Jakie in his pyjamas and sat down with him to read books, he read several storybooks before Jakie fell asleep. Troy thought about putting him to bed but was enjoying cuddling the sleeping baby. He tried to ring Gabriella but she wasn't answering so he sent her another text.

Gabriella

Wasn't gonna pull out of callbacks

Just wanna move rehearsals out of school time to get team off my back

Miss You

Troy

He sat there hoping she'd reply for a while, taking comfort from the fact Jakie was still always happy to spend time with him. Sighing he realised he had to do something other than wait for Gabriella to call before he ended up completely depressed. His bag was in reach so he got out his science book and started reading it. He chuckled to himself when he realised he was reading it aloud but figured it couldn't hurt. He finished the chapter and realised that he actually remembered it better than usual. He lay back taking comfort from holding Jakie in his arms and finally relaxed. He was asleep by the time Steve and Debra got home.

Debra grabbed the camera and took a couple of photos lifting Jacob carefully out of Troy's arms and carrying him upstairs so Steve could wake him and drive him home.

However waking Troy proved easier said than done and in the end Steve grabbed the quilt from the spare room and threw it over him, texting Jack that Troy would be home in the morning.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, ceciliaa93, BethPteg, baseballboy15 and trina Tiffany for your support.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Disclaimer" I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from the movie.

Troy woke before the rest of the household next morning but not early enough to go running. He got up and started to make breakfast. He made scrambled eggs because he remembered Debra saying that was Jakie's favourite, and bacon because it was something he never got at home.

Debra came down as he was almost finished. "Thanks Troy" she said sleepily. "I'll finish this. Can you go and get Jacob?"

Troy grinned "Sure" he said jogging up the stairs. He went in as Jakie began to stir and scooped him up, efficiently changed his nappy and carried him downstairs talking to him.

"Outsi Twoy" Jacob said as they got near the back door.

"It's time for breakfast Jakie. Do you want some eggs?" Troy replied.

"Edds" Jakie chirped as he happily let Troy strap him into the highchair.

"He seems to have new words every time I see him" Troy commented to his aunt.

"Yes he's a very clever boy aren't you darling" Debra said kissing his forehead as she started to feed him.

Jacob started fussing "No you can't feed yourself this morning Jacob. I don't have time to clean up you and the kitchen before work. You're going to Sophie's today" Debra said.

"Sossie" Jacob repeated happily.

"Yes you're going to Sophie's after you eat your eggs" Debra said taking advantage of his distraction to finish feeding him his breakfast and clean him up.

Steve came down and inhaled his breakfast. Are you ready to go Troy?" he asked.

"Yeah why didn't you take me home last night?" Troy asked.

"I couldn't wake you up. You and Jacob were both out for the count and unlike Jacob, you're too heavy to carry these days" Steve said laughing.

"Oh sorry" Troy said sheepishly.

"Can you drop Jacob at Sophie's on your way?" Debra asked.

"Yeah sure. Let's go little man" Steve said scooping up the child. Debra handed Troy Jacobs bag and he collected his throwing both in the front seat choosing to sit in the back with Jakie.

Steve and Jakie dropped Troy off and he rushed to get ready for school. He called in at Gabriella's but she'd already left for school. Troy looked taken aback but managed to answer Ms Montez politely. "It's okay. It's my fault for running late. I better get a move on. Have a good day Ms Montez" he said before running the rest of the way to school.

-o0o-

Troy ran into Gabriella at lunch and tried to speak to her. Gabriella shook her head and walked away without saying anything. Taylor waved to her to come and sit with them but she sat alone and just stared at her lunch without eating. Chad called to Troy but he shook his head and left the cafeteria looking depressed. Troy walked out of the cafeteria without speaking to his friends either.

Chad looked at Taylor feeling guilty.

"They're both so sad, what have we done?" Taylor asked.

"Troy's really shut himself off. I thought this would get him back on track to concentrate on the championships but it's made things worse" Chad said.

"We have to fix this" Taylor said.

"Yeah" Chad agreed heading back to the team. He collected Jason and Zeke and they walked towards the gym to talk.

Taylor finished eating and met up with the decathlon team. "Before we start practicing there's something I want to talk to you all about" she began hesitantly.

"Gabriella?" Martha asked.

"Yeah. I'm beginning to think we shouldn't have done that yesterday. I didn't know it would upset her like that"

"If she really cared for Bolton, then it was better she finds out what he's like now than later" Scott said making the others feel a little better.

"Not necessarily. She knew him better than we did. She knew about the cheerleaders and it didn't worry her. She said he'd told her all about it" Taylor said.

"The cheerleaders haven't been hassling her either" Bec said questioningly. "They glare at her from a distance, but they never came near her. Anyone else would be dealing with some serious harassment."

"Yeah? That's really strange" Martha agreed. "I wonder why?"

"You said Gabriella seemed to already know Troy. He could have warned the cheerleaders off" Daniel suggested.

"Gabriella hasn't really made any friends other than Troy she joined the decathlon team but she doesn't talk to any of us outside of training" Taylor admitted. "Ive tried to be her friend but she's not really interested."

"Why would she trust us. She's too smart not to know we had something to do with it yesterday. We couldn't have had the conversation on the laptop like that, if we hadn't set it up" Martha said. "I'm almost surprised she even joined the team."

"We're getting off topic. I wanted to ask how we could try to fix things for Gabriella" Taylor said.

"All we can do is try to explain how we set it up and that Troy was under pressure from his team when he said those things and Chad planned to manipulate him into it" Martha suggested. "I don't know if it will be enough to get her to forgive Troy but hopefully she'll forgive us."

"You mean Taylor. We had nothing to do with it" Scott said.

Daniel shook his head. "We stood there and watched it happen and we didn't try to stop Taylor. She has no reason to believe we weren't involved" he said.

"I think we need to talk to Troy" Chad said.

"I don't think he wants to talk to us" Jason replied.

"He hasn't wanted to spend time with us since we accosted him in the locker room yesterday. Do you think this is about the singing?" Zeke asked.

Chad thought back "He might have thought we were taking his father's side" he said. "But I think he's more upset about the girl than anything else. He was kinda okay until they met up at her locker after lunch."

"We have to tell him" Zeke said. "He can't fix things with her if he doesn't know what he did"

"Troy's gonna be so pissed at us" Jason said.

"Word" Chad agreed. "But we should tell him anyway."

-o0o-

"**Troy! Hey" **Chad said as he Zeke and Jason went up to the rooftop to find their captain. They'd known Troy retreated there when he needed space and had decided until now to let him have his private space knowing that living with his father as coach he never got away from the pressures of basketball at home like they all did. But Troy wasn't hanging out with them at all since the stunt they pulled to get Gabriella to pull out of the call-backs so they had little choice but to follow him up there to talk to him.

"**Hey, um... We just had another team meeting" **Chad said

"**Oh... wonderful" **Troy said sarcastically wondering what they were going to hit him with this time.

"**We had a team meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team. I mean us, not you" **Chad said admitted.

"**About the singing thing... **Chad began.

"**I don't even wanna talk about it" **Troy retorted interrupting him.

"**We just want you to know that we're gonna be there. Cheering for you"** Chad said encouragingly.

"**Huh?"** Troy asked wondering what had caused this sudden turn around, not that it mattered anymore anyway he reminded himself sadly.

"**If singing is what you wanna do, we should boost you up, not tear you down" **Zeke said earnestly.

"**Yeah, Win or lose, we're teammates. That's what we're about, Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world" **Chad said teasing to try and lighten the situation.

"**Which we don't know, because we haven't heard you sing" **Jason said cheekily causing the others to try and hide their laughter.

"**And you're not gonna hear me sing, guys. Because Gabriella won't even talk to me... and I don't know why"** Troy said holding back tears.

Chad was horrified he'd hurt his best friend so badly. How could he have not realised how much Gabriella meant to Troy before he'd callously destroyed their relationship. Troy had told him about meeting her and had asked them all to protect her from the gossip and rumours at East high and Chad had forgotten about it as he tried to mould Troy into what he thought the basketball captain should be. He had to tell him about it to give Troy the opportunity to try to put things right even if Troy hated him for it.

**We do" **Chad admitted sheepishly.

**I baked these fresh today. You'll probably want to try one before we tell you the rest" **Zeke said hesitantly. Troy just stared at the bag of cookies then threw them back into Zeke's face. It was their fault? What had they done? Troy felt his anger rise.

"You're idiots you know. You've destroyed your chances to win the championships. I can't think, I can't play I can't sink a shot to save myself" Troy said bitterly running his hands through his hair aggitatedly. "You've destroyed everything and you think cookies can help make things right." He turned away to hide the tears now running down his face. "Just Go" he said thickly.

"You need to know what we did so you can fix it with Gabriella" Chad said.

"Some things can't be fixed Chad" Troy said sadly.

"Yesterday in the locker room, we had a web cam set up. We planned it all with McKessie, Gabriella saw you say you'd give up the auditions" Chad explained.

"I was lying to get you off my backs" Troy said laughing bitterly. "So she heard me say she meant nothing to me. No wonder she won't talk to me."

-o0o-

"**Gabriella, we were jerks. No, we were worse than jerks because we were mean jerks. We thought Troy and the whole singing thing was killing our chances of having you on the scholastic decathlon team" **Taylor explained.

"**I heard what he had to say. I'm on your team now. Done" **Gabriella replied sullenly trying to continue working the equation on the board.

"**No, not done. We knew that Chad could get Troy to say things to make you want to forget about the call-backs. We planned it, and we're embarrassed and sorry"** Taylor tried to explain.

"**No one forced Troy to say anything. And you know what? It's OK. We should be preparing for the decathlon now, so it's time to move on" **Gabriella said firmly, determined to protect herself from being hurt again. After thinking about it all night she realised Troy might have been lying to his teammates trying to manipulate them to leave him alone the same way he manipulated his homework and grades to get his father to accept him taking time off to study and to babysit. Still hurt she decided that it didn't matter if he'd meant what he said or why he said it he had told his friends that she meant nothing to him and it broke something inside her to hear it. Even if he was lying and from what she'd seen he'd been hurt by the loss of their friendship too, she couldn't trust him not to let her down again next time his team mates objected to her.

"**No, it's not OK. The decathlon is whatever, but how you feel about us, and even more, Troy - that's what really matters" **Taylor said.

Gabriella shook her head. It was too late for them to be sorry. 'Perhaps they should have thought of that before they ruined the best friendship I've ever had' she thought angrily, she couldn't trust any of them either. She turned away and went back to work.

Taylor sighed "**We tried"** she whispered to the others as they left Gabriella alone in the science room again. Gabriella had become a conscientious member of the decathlon team but in spite of all of them making an effort she had never been more than politely reserved with them. She made no attempt to socialise with any of them preferring to spend her time alone buried in her studies. She was clearly unhappy and lonely and they didn't know what else they could do about it.

-o0o-

Troy and Gabriella both spent another miserable afternoon. Both of them may as well have gone home after the confrontations with their friends for all the attention they paid their classes.

Gabriella skipped her decathlon meeting after school preferring to head straight home. She walked not wanting to have to make idle conversation on the bus.

Troy couldn't skip practice without bringing the wrath of his father down on his head but it was very clear something was seriously wrong. He was listless and apathetic and could barely bring himself to look at his teammates knowing how they'd betrayed him. Jack watched concerned as Troy failed to intercept the ball during the game and fumbled it when it was passed to him. Obviously something was upsetting his son.

Jack called practice off early and set the team to running knowing that Troy appreciated the quiet time to think things through. He approached Chad while Troy was occupied. "What's going on?" he asked.

"We stuffed up coach" Chad said sighing. "We thought Troy auditioning for the musical distracted him from preparing for the championships, so we manipulated things to get Gabriella to pull out of the call-backs. Problem is we upset her so much she won't even talk to Troy" he explained.

"You need to fix this Chad" Jack ordered.

"We tried. We told Troy what we did and McKessie confessed to Montez at lunch. Now Troy's mad at us too" Chad admitted sheepishly. "I don't know what else we can do."

Jack swore loudly. "Okay guys hit the showers" he called.

Jack was waiting when Troy came out of the showers and gestured him to come with him. Troy followed him silently to the car and climbed in the passenger seat.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

Troy didn't answer.

"Troy the championship is three days away. What can I do to help you get back on track?" Jack said concerned.

"I need to try to talk to Gabriella. She won't talk to me at school so I was planning to go over there after dinner. At least that way her mom will answer the door and I can give her a message if she won't talk to me" Troy said.

"Okay you can have the evening off to talk to Gabriella, but after that you need to start trying to put it behind you and concentrate on the game" Jack said firmly.

"I'll try" Troy promised sighing.

-o0o-

**Hi, uh... Just came to say I'm sorry"** Troy rehearsed as he walked towards Gabriella's house.

"**Hi, Miss Montez" **Troy said as she answered the door that night.

"**Oh, Troy!"** Maria said surprised to see him standing on her doorstep.

She turned to see Gabriella on the stairs hidden by the door.

Gabriella shook her head and mouthed "**No."**

"**Um... Gabriella is kind of busy with homework, so now's not a good time" **Maria made excuses for her daughter sadly. Gabriella had explained what had happened and Maria was annoyed and disappointed with Troy for hurting Gabriella like that. On the other hand Gabriella had been so happy when she was friends with Troy, Happier than she'd ever seen her daughter and she was miserable and more lonely than ever now without him. And it was obvious from the bags under his eyes and his tight expression that Troy was hurting just as much as Gabriella was.

"**I made a mistake, Ms Montez, and I would really like to let Gabriella know that. Could you tell her I came by to see her?" ** Troy said sadly. Maria was impressed he admitted what he did was wrong, and even more impressed that he remained calm and polite even after she refused to let him in to see Gabriella.

"**I will... Troy" **Maria promised. "**Good night."**

"**Good night, Thank you"** Troy said politely walking away as Maria closed the door. Troy pulled out his phone intending to call but then remembering the balcony outside Gabriella's room and wondered if he could get up there.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, old voldys gone moldy, Ceciliaa93, ENPD, stordec23 and Taylstj for your support.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Disclaimer" I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from the movie.

"**Hello?"** Gabriella answered her cell phone hesitantly.

"**What you heard, none of that is true. I was sick of my friends riding me about singing with you, so I said things to shut them up. I didn't mean any of it"**Troy said quickly praying Gabriella would listen long enough for him to explain.

"Why did you say it?" Gabriella asked.

"My friends were ragging me and I just wanted to reassure them that I was still focussed on winning the championship. I shouldn't have said it there's no excuse but I truly didn't mean it and you weren't supposed to hear it. Please believe me" Troy begged tears in his eyes as he realised how wrong he'd been and how difficult it would be for him to even think about forgiving Gabriella if she'd done this to him.

"**You sounded pretty convincing to me" **Gabriella said dubiously. She wanted to believe him but she just wasn't sure.

"**The guy you met on vacation is way more me than the guy who said those stupid things"** Troy said desperately. He couldn't bear the idea of Gabriella not being his friend. He missed her so much it hurt to see her and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

Gabriellabelieved that. Troy had no reason to lie as they got to know each other before she found out she was moving to Albuquerque. In fact she had reason to know he'd been scrupulously honest with her even when he'd admitted to her that he'd rather not be.

"Troy you caved in to peer group pressure. You may not have meant what you said but you still said it. How can I trust that it won't happen again next time Chad or your Dad or someone pressures you to give me up?" Gabriella asked.

"Because now I know exactly how much it hurt to be without your friendship. I won't deny how important you are to me again Gabriella because our relationship is too important to risk losing again. I can't tell you how sorry I am that you saw me say those things. How sorry I am for saying them at all" Troy begged.

"**The whole singing thing is making the school whack. You said so yourself. Everyone's treating you differently because of it"** Gabriella told him unsure what she should do.

"**Maybe because I don't wanna only be the basketball guy. They can't handle it. That's not my problem, it's theirs" **Troy said quickly. "Please Gabriella you're the only one who sees that I can become who I really want to be."

"**How about your dad?" **Gabriella asked uncertainly. She really didn't want to make things harder for Troy at home.

"**And it's not about my dad. This is about how I feel, and I'm not letting the team down. They let me down. So I'm gonna sing. What about you?" **Troy asked pleadingly.

"**I don't know, Troy" **Gabriella said hesitantly. She was willing to become Troy's friend again but she still thought doing the call-backs was asking for more trouble with their other friends. On the other hand their friends had all betrayed them by setting up the situation that caused Gabriella to pull out of the call-backs in the first place.

"**Well, you need to say yes" **Troy begged**. "Because I brought you something"**

"**What do you mean?" **Gabriella asked confused.

"**Turn around" **Troy said gently.

Gabriella turned around and found Troy standing on her balcony. She opened the door and stared at him in shock still holding her phone to her ear as he started singing the song from New Years Eve.

"**This could be the start of something new**

**It feels so right to be here with you**

**Oh**

**And now lookin' in your eyes**

**I feel in my heart**

**The start of something...**

**... new"**

"**It's a pairs audition"** Troy said holding up the sheet music she'd given him the other day looking at her anxiously.

Gabriella walked slowly across and took it from him. Troy smiled in relief and leaned down to hug her praying that she'd allow it.

Gabriella didn't push him away but it took a minute before she wrapped her arms around him as well. Troy relaxed hugging her tighter. "I have missed you so much" he said.

"I missed you too Troy" Gabriella admitted. "Are you sure you still want to do the call-backs. I'll be your friend again even if you don't."

"Yeah I wanna do the call-backs. We've both worked too hard to give up now. And I wanna beat Ryan and Sharpay and show them how great Kelsi's songs are the way they're supposed to be written" Troy said seriously.

"Okay then I'll let Kelsi know" Gabriella said smiling at Troy's attempt to protect Kelsi from Sharpay.

"How has she been? Is she really mad at us?" Troy asked.

"She was disappointed, but she wasn't mad at me once I explained" Gabriella said.

"So she'll be mad at me for upsetting you as well" Troy said wryly.

"You're strong enough to bear it" Gabriella said laughing.

"Yeah" Troy agreed tickling her in return for the teasing.

Gabriella shrieked then quickly covered her mouth hoping her mother wouldn't come and find Troy there.

"Shh you'll get me caught" Troy said. "What would your Mom say if she caught me out here with you?"

"I don't know. How did you get up here without her knowing? And without me hearing you?" Gabriella asked smiling.

"Climbed up the trellis" Troy said smiling.

"Should I worry about your housebreaking skills" Gabriella teased.

"I'm not a thief, a stalker or Edward Cullen" Troy teased back.

"Of course not you're not anywhere near good looking enough to sparkle in the sunlight" Gabriella teased back.

Troy laughed. He was so happy that even the lamest jokes would have seemed hilarious.

"Don't let Mom catch you up here" Gabriella warned. "She likes you. You don't want to ruin that."

"I don't think she does so much anymore but you're right I should go" Troy agreed giving Gabriella a quick kiss on the mouth before carefully climbing down. "I'll call you tonight."

-o0o-

Troy hurried home and spent half an hour shooting baskets even the most impossible looking three pointers went in.

Jack watched from the back door smiling. Obviously his son had worked things out with the Montez girl. The improvement in his skills was incredible. Nobody seeing him at training this afternoon and again tonight would believe it was the same boy. This link between Troy's ability on the court and his emotions was going to cause problems though and Jack started trying to think of a way to train it out of him.

Troy looked up and saw Jack watching. "Hey Dad, come out and play a little one-on-one" he called.

Jack smiled and joined Troy on the court for a furious game. Jack was almost glad half an hour later to have an excuse to stop when Alistair McElroy came out yelling at them about the noise. Troy was beating him almost effortlessly in spite of him putting his all into the game.

"Don't you two have any respect for an old man trying to sleep?" Alistair ranted.

"Sorry Mr McElroy" Troy said grinning. "We were just having a game. We'll go in now, promise."

Jack glanced at his watch it was after ten o'clock at night much later than Alistair had been coming out to complain lately. He looked at the man suspiciously and saw him smiling at Troy. "That's all right then. Goodnight" he said.

"Mr McElroy" Troy called. "We're having a party after the game on Friday. I'm afraid it will be a bit noisy but you're welcome to come and have some barbeque with us" he invited.

"Thanks for the warning and the invitation Troy but I'll be going to my daughter's for the weekend" Alistair replied.

"Well have a good weekend" Troy replied.

Troy went inside and raided the fridge. "Don't eat too much you have a championship to win" Jack said mildly.

"Dad I'm starving. I haven't eaten properly since yesterday" Troy said pulling out the leftovers and shoving them in the microwave.

"You're always starving, I wish I still had that teenage metabolism" Jack said grumpily.

Troy laughed. "There's got to be some advantages of all this training" he retorted sitting down to eat.

Jack laughed too and wished Troy goodnight.

Troy finished eating, cleaned up after himself and threw himself on his bed to talk to Gabriella.

"Hi Troy" Gabriella said.

"Hey Gabriella, did you get all your homework done?" he asked.

"Yeah, what about you?" Gabriella asked.

"Nope but nobody will expect me to this week" Troy replied smirking.

"Troy" Gabriella scolded.

"Seriously. My English and History assignments are finished I've already got extensions on my psychology assignment and my health and human development. I read my science stuff for the test tomorrow to Jakie yesterday" Troy explained.

"And did Jakie like your science homework?" Gabriella said laughing.

Troy shrugged though Gabriella couldn't see him "He was asleep" he admitted.

"I still think you should at least try to get some work done tonight" Gabriella said firmly.

"Okay" Troy agreed. "Can I pick you up for school tomorrow?"

"Sure Troy, I'd like that" Gabriella said smiling.

"Goodnight Gabriella. Sweet dreams" Troy said.

"Goodnight Troy" Gabriella replied disconnecting. She put her phone back on the bedside table and snuggled into her blankets.

Troy pulled out his psychology books and started his assignment. An hour later he fell asleep face down in the book with a rough draft half written.

-o0o-

Maria was surprised to find Troy on her doorstep the next morning. "Hey Ms Montez. Is Gabriella ready to go?" he asked cheerfully.

"Good morning Troy. Is Gabriella expecting you?" Maria asked concerned.

"Yeah we spoke on the phone last night" Troy replied.

"Um I don't mean to be rude but..."Maria began.

"You want me to wait out here until you talk to Gabriella to confirm that?" Troy asked smiling. "Sure" He turned and sat on the steps. He frowned when he heard Maria lock the door before going to find Gabriella.

"Gabriella, Troy's here" Maria said entering her daughter's room where she was packing her bag for the day.

Gabriella smiled. "Tell him I'll be down in a minute" she said.

"So you did sort things out with him last night?" Maria asked.

"Yeah he rang and after what he said to you I finally answered" Gabriella confirmed not mentioning him climbing up to the balcony.

"Okay I'll go and let him in to wait for you" Maria said kissing her daughter's cheek. "I have to get going. I have a meeting this morning. Have a good day at school."

"Thanks Mom. Good luck with your meetings" Gabriella said hugging her mother.

Maria hurried down the stairs and opened the front door. "Come on in Troy and help yourself to the fruit bowl if you like Gabriella will be down in a minute" she said.

"Thanks Ms Montez" Troy said not getting up.

Gabriella came down a minute or so later. "Hi Troy. Aren't you cold out there?"

"No I'm fine" Troy said getting up. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah" Gabriella said handing over an apple.

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said taking the apple, he slung Gabriella's bag over his shoulder and took Gabriella's hand.

"You'll be pleased to know I got half my psych assignment drafted last night. You're a good influence" Troy teased.

"Well someone's got to be" Gabriella teased back. "Are you worried about meeting Kelsi today. We could go together, I was going to meet her during free period."

"That would be good but I've got practice during free period and again after school" Troy said.

"I could cut decathlon practice short and meet her with you during the second half of lunch" Gabriella suggested.

"Thanks Gabriella I'll meet you outside the science room" Troy agreed smiling.

"Don't you have practice?" Gabriella asked.

"I have PE right before lunch so we'll practice then and it'll probably run over into the start of lunch but I should be able to get away. I can meet you after practice tonight too if you'd like me to" Troy said.

Gabriella smiled. "I'd like that" she said.

They walked into homeroom and Gabriella approached Kelsi to ask if she was available to practice in free period.

"And Troy too?" Kelsi asked hopefully.

"He has training most of the day but he could meet us during the second half of lunch" Gabriella replied.

"What happened? You two sorted things out?"

"Yeah he came over last night. I refused to see him but he admitted to Mom that he'd made a mistake and she said he looked terribly sad. So when he rang later I answered and we talked it out. He still wants to do the call-backs. He won't let us down again" Gabriella explained.

-o0o-

Gabriella went to the music room at the start of free period. "Hey Kelsi" she called.

"Hey Gabriella" Kelsi greeted. "Ready to practice?"

They started work and Gabriella was relieved to find she hadn't forgotten the melody or the actions though she couldn't perform them properly in the crowded classroom. "Troy said he could meet after basketball practice this afternoon, will the auditorium be empty by then?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah it should be" Kelsi said. "That's a good idea. Do you know when practice will finish?"

"No that's the problem with the championships this week it could be quite late" Gabriella replied.

"Oh well there's a piano there so I'm happy to wait for him but I can't stay tonight, maybe tomorrow would be better" Kelsi said. "You can watch him practice."

"No I'd better not. Coach Bolton doesn't like me very much."

"You're dating his son and he doesn't like you?" Kelsi asked.

"Troy and I aren't dating, we're just friends" Gabriella corrected sighing. "And to be honest he'd probably like me even less if we were dating. He won't like you either. Coach Bolton wants his son to live and breathe for basketball alone" she warned.

"Do you want to be more than friends?" Kelsi asked.

"I don't know Kelsi. When I first met him yeah I was attracted to him, then when he left Breckenridge and I thought I wouldn't see him again we spoke on the phone for hours each day. We talked about stuff I'd never told anyone before. Now we're such great friends I don't want to risk it. He doesn't exactly have the best reputation with the way he treats the cheerleaders" Gabriella said.

"Yeah but he never treated you like them" Kelsi said reassuringly.

"I know I just don't know if he could totally give up all that for me" Gabriella said uncertainly.

"From what I've heard he might have already. My brother said he hasn't seen Troy out partying since New Year. Apparently the cheerleaders have been complaining about it."

The bell rang saving Gabriella from having to answer.

-o0o-

Jack looked on smiling as Troy took control of the practice game. He was all over the court intercepting the ball every time the opposition had control of it and shooting with incredible accuracy. **"Whoo"** he hollered as Troy made a long three pointer.

Troy turned and smiled giving him a victory pump **"Yeah!"**

He called the end of practice to give the team the time to change and eat before afternoon classes, and watched with mixed feelings as Troy raced off the court.

"**Zn4, and by doing that, you end up with two... and two, Got it?" **Gabriella explained writing the equation on the board as she went.

"**Yes!" **Taylor said exchanging an uncharacteristic High five with Erin as the decathlon team watched Gabriella work the chemical equation. The type of coaching Gabriella could give them both in science and math and about the way to best present the information at the decathlon was invaluable.

"**What's happening?" **Zeke asked Troy as he and the team reached the locker room to find Troy already dressed.

Troy gave him a handshake and rushed off stopping only to check his hair in the mirror.

"**Come here, Go ahead and put five grams of this in and that causes it to change from an acidic state. Causing the colour to change from pink to blue, just like those pH strips" **Gabriella explained to the scholastic decathlon team. Showing them how they should explain each step for the maximum amount of points from the judges. She glanced up at the clock. "**Oh, gotta go, See you guys later!" **she said grabbing her stuff and running for the door.

"**Whoa! You're late!"** Troy said pretending he hadn't been late as well and had barely beaten her to their meeting. Today had felt awesome with his friendship with Gabriella back on track and the support of his friends behind him Troy felt like he could do anything. They rushed off together to rehearse with Kelsi.

Kelsi welcomed Troy back calmly and listened in delight as they sang the song through perfectly without having to read the words.

Ryan and Sharpay walked past the music room and overheard Troy and Gabriella singing and stopped to listen.** "Wow! They sound good" **Ryan said anxiously.

Sharpay scoffed but went over to listen more closely. She turned back to Ryan her eyes wide with surprise and her face pale. "**We have to do something"** she said panicking as she saw her chances of playing the lead role disappear**. "OK, our call-backs' on Thursday and the basketball game and scholastic decathlon are on Friday" **she said thoughtfully. "**Too bad all these events weren't happening on the same day... at the same time"** Sharpay said wondering how she could arrange that.

"**That wouldn't work out because then Troy and Gabriella wouldn't be able to make..."** Ryan began before realising what his sister was planning. "**I'm proud to call you my sister"** he said smirking.

"**I know" ** Sharpay said winking at her brother as she prepared her arguments wondering if she'd be able to convince the drama teacher to change the day of the call-backs. Hopefully she could use her prejudices against her.

Troy and Gabriella sang through the song a few times before Gabriella had to rush off. Troy stayed to help Kelsi pack up the music and to give Kelsi a chance to tell him off and get it over and done with.

"You know you really hurt Gabriella" Kelsi said.

"Did she explain how it happened?" Troy asked. "I never meant for her to hear what I said I was just trying to get the team to trust me. It was a set up."

"Gabriella knew that. That's part of the reason it hurt so much. You betrayed her by saying those things but Taylor betrayed her too by setting it up and all of a sudden she had nobody she could trust" Kelsi said softly.

"I will never hurt her like that again" Troy promised.

"She's forgiven all of you but it will take her a while to trust you the way she did before. You really screwed up Troy" Kelsi scolded him.

"I need to apologise to you too Kelsi. Gabriella pulled out of the call-backs because of me after you put so much time and effort into helping us rehearse it must have felt like we betrayed you too" Troy said seriously.

"Gabriella explained to me how you talked her back into doing the call-backs last night" Kelsi said.

"So you forgive me? Friends?" Troy said sticking out his hand.

"Yes! Friends" Kelsi smiled shaking his hand. "Now we'd better get to class before we get a detention."

"Yeah Dad'll blow a gasket if I have to miss practice because of a detention this close to the championships" Troy agreed.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, old voldys gone moldy, Ceciliaa93, ENPD, stordec23, LaueeeCarter, Bethypie1998, CONFUSOUL and Tess92 for your support.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from the movie.

"**I don't want to hear any more about Troy and that Montez girl"** Ms Darbus said annoyed by the petty complaints the twins were putting forth.

Sharpay immediately stopped complaining about Troy and started campaigning for an extra day of preparation for the call-backs hoping that the teacher who seemed to live in her own world most of the time wouldn't realise that Troy and Gabriella wouldn't be able to make the call-backs if they were rescheduled to the Friday.

Estelle Darbus wasn't quite as out of touch with the rest of the school as Sharpay thought she was but she was interested to know Troy and Gabriella's level of commitment to her show. Playing the lead role was an incredible amount of work especially for two people with no acting or performing experience and if Troy was going to put basketball before the Musicale then it would be better to give the role to someone else.

"**So, if you're telling me as co-presidents of the drama club that changing the call-backs would be what's best for our theatre program, I might actually agree with you"** Ms Darbus said walking of trying to ignore the guilty feeling in her heart that she wasn't giving Troy and Gabriella a fair chance because of her dislike of the way the basketball team was favoured in the school. She walked off quickly trying to dismiss what she'd done from her mind.

**Is that a yes?"** Ryan asked his sister once he thought they were alone.

Sharpay winked and walked off unaware that their conversation had been observed.

Out of sight Kelsi slumped at her piano the inspiration for the song she was composing gone. She thought about trying to contact Gabriella or Troy to let them know what was happening but realised that in spite of their friendship she didn't know the cell numbers of either of them. She had a fair idea of where Troy lived having been to the end of season party there with her family the year before but she didn't want to just turn up on his doorstep. Resolving to meet them as they arrived at school in the morning she turned back to the piano. The new music she played was flat and dull, she didn't bother to write it down and soon decided to give up for the night.

**-o0o-**

Troy stopped in to see Gabriella on his way home from training. Aware that Ms Montez wasn't happy about the idea of him being alone in the house with Gabriella while she was working he suggested that they sit outside in the shelter of the porch. Gabriella went in to get her coat and Troy laughed when she came back in ski pants and coat as well as carrying a blanket.

"It's not that cold" he chuckled.

"I hate the cold" Gabriella retorted.

"Well I'm honoured that you like me enough to put up with sitting out in it" Troy said smiling.

"Oh You!" Gabriella said shoving him lightly. "How'd it go with Kelsi?" she asked.

"Okay, she was pretty pissed at me for hurting you. I told her the whole story. She said she's forgiven me so long as we do well in the call-backs"

Gabriella laughed "She's terrified of spending the next three months rehearsing with Sharpay" she told him. "She seems to be more forgiving of Ryan though."

"I don't really know him. It's hard not to feel sorry for the guy, after all he has to live with Sharpay" Troy said shuddering in horror making Gabriella laugh again.

"Troy can I ask you something?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

"You can ask me anything you like" Troy replied smiling reassuringly.

"You keep kissing me. Does it mean something or is it just normal for you to kiss a girl when you spend time with her?" Gabriella asked. "Is it just something to do when you can't think of anything to talk about?"

Troy laughed. "I have never kissed you because I can't think of something to talk about" he reassured her. "I like kissing you, and it does mean something to me."

"I sound like a total hysterical virgin don't I?" Gabriella said self depreciatingly.

"No Gabriella, this is my fault. I wish I could be clearer for you about what I mean. I want to keep kissing you. I can't take you for an official date until after the championships and even then Dad's going to blow a gasket about the fact I'm dating but I think I'd like you to be my girlfriend." Troy said. "At the risk of sounding like a teenage girl, I really like you."

"You want me to be your secret girlfriend?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"I know we're not thirteen" Troy said insecurely. "Please don't be insulted. I promise I'll tell Dad and everyone after the championships if you want me to."

"Troy I'd like to say yes but I think we should probably leave this whole conversation for after the championships when you're not under so much stress" Gabriella said carefully.

"You don't want to go out with me?" Troy asked.

"I don't want to be you're secret" Gabriella refuted, "I said it before about being your friend. You are important to me and I want to be open about how I feel. I also want you to think seriously about what it will mean. If I was your girlfriend I would expect you to give up sleeping with the cheerleaders and anyone else. And I'm not ready to have sex. I don't know when I would be ready. Could you do that, give up sex and fooling around?" she asked blushing almost scarlet.

"Yes I promise I won't have casual sex with anyone and I'll try not to pressure you. I can wait until you're ready" Troy said.

"Are you sure you can Troy. Promise is a really big word."

Gabriella I enjoy kissing you more than I've enjoyed having sex with anyone for years. As long as you're not asking me to give up masturbating as well I'll be fine" Troy said smiling at her.

Gabriella blushed even more but didn't reply.

"I promise I can wait. I won't pressure you deliberately, and I won't get upset if you tell me off if you feel I'm pressuring you without meaning to" Troy said earnestly.

"Is it going to cause trouble to give up the cheerleaders? With your dad and the team I mean?" Gabriella asked.

Troy thought for a moment. "Not if it's because I have a girlfriend and they already know you're special to me. They're already pissed at me because I'm blackmailing them to leave you alone."

"Is it going to cause serious problems with your Dad?" Gabriella asked anxiously.

"I dunno. He should ease up on me after the season finishes, especially if we win the championship" Troy said. "I don't know if I care what he thinks about it anymore anyway."

Gabriella didn't say anything to this but reached over and took his hand squeezing gently.

"What can he do?" Gabriella asked after a few minutes.

"Not much. He can't ground me forever, I already do most of the work around the house. All he can do to show his irritation is push me harder in training which he does frequently anyway" Troy said.

"What about your mom? Will she be upset about us dating?" Gabriella asked.

"It's impossible to predict how she'll react to anything I do, or how long it would take her to notice" Troy said bitterly.

"Troy is your mom okay? You said she's been at work nearly constantly since you got back from Breckenridge. Is that normal?"

"She's always worked a lot more than Dad and a lot of evenings which is why I learned to cook and take over my own household chores but it's definitely got worse since we got home. I never used to have to clean downstairs or do hers and Dad's laundry. I literally haven't seen her at all since Sunday and the last couple of times I've seen her if she isn't fighting with Dad she's fighting with me. If it doesn't get better after the championships I'm gonna ring and make an appointment to talk to her" Troy said despondently.

Gabriella shuffled over in her blanket and wrapped her arms around him resting her head on his shoulder.

It was at that moment Maria arrived home. "Hello Gabriella, Troy. What on earth are you doing outside?"

"Hi Mom, we're just talking" Gabriella said.

"Hi Ms Montez" Troy said getting to his feet and helping Gabriella up.

"Come inside and get warmed up" Maria said shaking her head at their foolishness.

"Um I've got to get home and start dinner" Troy said. "Bye Gabriella I'll pick you up in the morning"

"Goodbye Troy" she gave him a quick hug and watched him walk down the sidewalk.

"What were you doing outside?" Maria asked as she came inside. "You hate the cold."

"Troy refused to come in, I told him the other day that you were uncomfortable with him being here while you were at work" Gabriella explained.

"And you can understand why if you end up hugging him even out on the porch where the whole world could see" Maria said.

"He needed a hug, we were talking about his mom" Gabriella replied. "He said he's actually thinking about calling her work and making an appointment to talk to her" she said sadly.

-o0o-

Troy was in a good mood when he picked up Gabriella the next morning even though he still hadn't seen his mother. The sun was shining but Gabriella still thought it was far too cold. They walked towards the school talking about the musical until they met up with Chad, Zeke and Jason as well as Taylor, Daniel, Scott, Bec and Erin from the decathlon team. Gabriella introduced her decathlon teammates to Troy and the basketball team and they all moved indoors. Chad was in the middle of a story when Troy saw Kelsi staring miserably at the drama club notice board.

He rushed over to see what she was looking at.

"**Call-backs the same time as the game?" **Troy said stunned, looking at the new announcement on the board.

"**And the scholastic decathlon" **Gabriella said distressed.

"**Why would they do that?" **Taylor asked confused.

"**I smell a rat named Darbus" **Chad exclaimed angrily.

"**Actually I think its two rats, neither of them named Darbus" **Kelsi said upset as she saw the loss of her chances of have her music performed by her friends the way she intended it to be performed.

"**Do you know something about this, small person?" **Chad asked, not knowing her name.

Kelsi looked at Troy and Gabriella. **"Miss Darbus might thinks she's protecting the show, but Ryan and Sharpay are pretty much only concerned with protecting themselves" **she explained crossly.

**Do you know what I'll do to those two show dogs?" **Chad steamed furiously.

Troy stopped him "**Nothing, We're not gonna do anything to them. Except to sing, maybe. Now this is only gonna happen if we all work together. **We need to work out a way Gabriella and I can be in two places at the same time.** Now who's in?**"

They moved to a classroom and shut the door so they wouldn't be overheard.

"**You know I'm in**. I wanna help but how can we do this?" Chad said enthusiastically.

"We have six of the smartest people in the school here. Surely we can work this out" Troy said.

"You need to be able to leave the gym for half an hour without being noticed" Jason stated the obvious.

"Or we need a way to stop the game and the decathlon long enough for you to go and audition" Taylor suggested.

"So we need to get the science lab and the gym to be evacuated for some reason without evacuating the whole school" Gabriella said thoughtfully.

"Have you been evacuated during a game before?" Martha asked. "What would do it?"

Troy thought "Electrical faults, broken pipes spraying hot water, the fire sprinklers going off but we want something that can be easily fixed too. As the home team we could be forced to forfeit if we can't get the game back on" he said.

"No it's the final surely they'd reschedule" Taylor argued.

"I don't want to risk it" Chad said. The rest of the team agreed.

"Okay maybe just a fault in the scoreboard then" Gabriella suggested. "Something that doesn't endanger anyone and can easily be faked."

"Okay that's me what are we gonna do in the science room?" Troy asked.

"Stink the place out with sulphur or something" Martha suggested.

"Yeah that's a good idea, then it won't seem like the two problems are linked. How're we gonna do it?" Taylor asked.

"Hack into the computer controls for the heating pads" Gabriella said. "I could do that. Then just send an activation signal."

Gabriella wrote the codes during free period while Taylor and Daniel went to the gym to scope out where the wiring for the scoreboard was and how difficult it would be to attach a modem to it without being noticed.

"You know you could have been one of the best pranksters if you wanted" Troy said admiringly.

"I wouldn't get away with it for long. There aren't that many people that can write code like this. The only reason the teachers won't automatically blame me is that I'm too new and I'm not taking IT this semester so they don't know what I can do" Gabriela said dismissively.

"Okay that's the lab ready we just need to make sure the right chemicals are in the beaker, we wouldn't want to risk actually poisoning someone" Gabriella said.

Taylor and Daniel arrived back. "Bad news, we're fairly sure the wiring for the scoreboard is in the locked cupboard in the hallway leading to the visitors' locker room" Daniel said.

"Dad's got the keys in his desk" Troy said.

"Is there any way we can get to them?" Scott asked.

Troy thought hard thinking about his father's routine and the other people that used the gym. "Probably not during the day but we're staying late to rehearse with Kelsi tonight we could do it then. If the janitor catches us in the gym I can just be going to get something out of my locker. Unless someone knows Dad's schedule if he's teaching health today."

"Hasn't he got it pined up on the corner of the notice board in his office?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah but how're we going to look at it without arousing suspicion?" Troy said.

"Troy's right after everyone's gone would be best especially if you need to play with the wiring" Taylor said.

"Actually that works best anyway, then you can go home and get the component's I need while Troy's at basketball practice and meet him in the auditorium to rehearse before coming back here to wire in the modem to receive the signal. It might take some time to do" Gabriella said.

"That's fine" Troy said smiling. "Dad's not going to punish me for being late home this close to the game."

-o0o-

The rest of the day went well and Troy and Gabriella met Kelsi in the empty auditorium for practice. Kelsi showed them how the moon had been finished and hung ready to be lowered onto the stage and they practiced the dance.

"Do you think your Dad will have gone home yet?" Gabriella asked.

"I'll check the parking lot" Troy said running off.

"Car's gone, let's go" he said.

"Wont the gym be locked? And your dad's office" Kelsi asked.

"Yeah probably" Troy said pulling out the key and unlocking the door. He opened Jack's office and rummaged carefully through the desk drawer before pulling out the keys.

He locked the office behind him knowing the janitor would check if he came past that way and led Gabriella to the cupboard.

Gabriella gasped when she saw the wires. "I can't separate the scoreboard from the rest of the lights. I'll have to do them all" she said. She quickly and neatly wired in the modem. "Okay Done" she said.

"Wait here" Troy told them as he quickly returned the keys to his Dad's desk and locked up.

"We did it" Kelsi crowed. "well you did it."

"You'll have you're part to play tomorrow to stall Darbus until we get there" Gabriella reminded her. "That will be the hardest part."

Troy and Gabriella walked Kelsi home because it was starting to get dark. "Do you need to be piggybacked again?" Troy teased Gabriella.

"Umm.. It was kind of fun" she said.

Laughing Troy bent his knees to allow Gabriella to climb on his back.

Kelsi laughed as Troy carried Gabriella all the way to her house then headed off towards Gabriella. 'And she thinks she's not his girlfriend' she thought to herself shaking her head in disbelief.

**-o0o-**

Chad , Zeke and Jason decided to show as much support to Gabriella, and to Troy doing the call-backs as they could.

Therefore they were waiting for Troy outside Chad's place when he arrived home.

"How'd it go Dude?" Chad asked.

"Pretty smoothly, we got in no worries but I'm gonna be prime suspect when it goes off. Dad probably knows I've got a key to his office, or access to his keys" Troy replied.

"Are you worried"

"Not really, I don't think Dad will rat me out so long as we win the championships" Troy said grinning. "I'm just a bit worried they'll find and dismantle it before the game."

"We need to keep busy" Jason said.

"I could bake the decathlon team a cake" Zeke suggested.

"And we could use the letter T-shirts to do something for them" Chad said.

"Not the decathlon, we should use the letter T-shirts for the drama club to make them feel guilty" Troy said.

"Yeah" Chad and Zeke agreed enthusiastically.

"Would it make them feel guilty" Jason asked.

"Maybe not Ryan and Sharpay but Darbus has to know that changing the call-backs like that was unfair" Troy said.

"I'd better get baking" Zeke said.

"I'll hunt out the letter T-shirts and contact the team" Chad said also leaving.

"Bye Troy" Jason said following Chad and Zeke.

" See ya tomorrow" Troy replied.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Stordec23, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, Thereadella, elyzaedeline897 and tawnigienne for your support.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are direct quotes from the movie.

Chad and Troy grabbed Taylor and Gabriella respectively covering their eyes while Zeke brought the cake in.

"**A pi pie" **Zeke said putting a large cake in front of them.

"**Oh, my goodness!" **Taylor exclaimed.

"**Oh, my gosh!" **Gabriella gasped at the same time.

"**What? Thank you!" **Taylor said smiling at Zeke and the boys

"**Oh, we have something for you too" **Taylor said.

"**Yeah, come here, look" **Gabriella added pulling Troy with her.

"**Ta-da!" **Taylor and Gabriella said together gesturing to the whiteboard.

"**Oh... it's an equation" **Troy said trying to sound enthusiastic about something he couldn't understand. He was good at math but this was way beyond normal high school level.'

Gabriella flipped the board over to show them the poster they'd made.

"**Oh! That's awful!" **The wildcats exclaimed jokingly. The girls pelted them with basketballs they'd stolen from the gym.

"**Stay right there, Watch" **Chad said leading Ms Darbus to the classroom door.

"**From our team, to yours" **Troy said getting into place.

"**G - O - D - R - A - M - A- C- L - U – B Exclamation point" **the Wildcats said showing off their new shirts.

"**Well Well, seems we Wildcats are in for an interesting afternoon"** Ms Darbus said. Troy's plan had payed off at least a little their support or the drama club had made her regret at least a little the lack of support she was giving him in making it next to impossible for him to audition. Her pride wouldn't let her back down and change the time of the auditions again though.

"**Go, G-O-D... dra,, Go dra... Go dray..."** Ryan wasn't stupid. In fact he had a really great memory and was really observant having spent a lot of time refining his observations of people's interactions for use in his acting. However he did have a learning disability and couldn't read very well. He did okay with normal printed words but the T-shirt letters were defeating him. It was a credit to him and his sister that he'd been able to learn as many lead roles as he had without the other actors realising. Unfortunately his ability to memorise also meant that many of his teachers didn't realise why he was struggling and thought him lazy or uninterested in his schoolwork. And the amount of help he needed from his sister to get through each day made him very easy for her to manipulate.

"**Ugh!"** Sharpay rolled her eyes at Ryan making a public fool of himself, especially in front of Troy.

"**Drame?"** Ryan continued trying to work out the words.

**-o0o-**

The bell rang at the end of the day and students and teachers rushed to one of the three after school activities on that afternoon. In other words other than the decathlon team, Kelsi, and the serious drama geeks everyone headed into the gym to watch the game.

"**How you feeling?" **Jack Bolton said leaning on the wall of the locker room. He could hear the cheerleaders in the gym doing a good job of hyping up the crowd.The other boys weren't there yet but Troy was sitting in the locker room already half dressed.

"**Nervous" **Troy admitted.

"**Yeah, me too. Wish I could suit up and play alongside of you" **Jack said.

"**Hey, you had your turn" **Troy said smiling slightly.

"**You know what I want from you today?" **Jack asked his son.

"**The championship"** Troy replied, hoping he could deliver and wondering how bad things would be at home if he couldn't.

Jack looked at his son and wondered sadly if Troy even still enjoyed basketball anymore or if he'd destroyed his enjoyment in the game by piling on too much pressure and demanding too many hours of training.

"**Well, that'll come or it won't. What I want is for you to have fun. I know all about the pressure. And probably too much of it has come from me"** Jack admitted regretfully**. "What I really want is to see my son having the time of his life playing the game we both love. You give me that, and I will sleep with a smile on my face no matter how the score comes out"** Jack said smiling at his son reassuringly.

Troy didn't know what to say, this sudden support from his father was overwhelming his emotions. **"Thanks, Coach... uh... Dad"** for the first time in weeks if not months Troy actually felt like his father was seeing him as his son not just the captain of his team.

The problem with that was it also made Troy start to feel guilty about the plan the girls had made to stop the game so that he and Gabriella could go and audition for the musical.

**-o0o-**

"**Welcome to the tenth annual Scholastic Decathlon. The East High Wildcats versus the West High Knights" **the announcer said as everyone took their seats in the transformed science classroom. Maria rushed in at the last minute and hurried up to the front to give her daughter a quick hug of support. She knew how much Gabriella hated standing up in front of an audience.

-o0o-

"**Hello! Right here, right here"** Ms Darbus said greeting the other teachers who'd come to watch the call-backs and directing them to seats in the middle of the auditorium.

**-o0o-**

"**Come on, let's do it" **Troy called excitedly as the Wildcats whooped and hollered their way along the hallway from the locker room to the gym.

"**And now introducing your East High Wildcats!..." **the announcer yelled into the gym microphone excitedly.

"**Let's go! Go!" **Jack called to the team encouragingly as they came out.

"**...for this championship game between East High and West High!" **

**-o0o-**

"**Casting the leads of a show is both a challenge and a responsibility, a joy and a burden, I commend you and all other young artists to hold out for the moon, the sun and the stars. Shall we soar together?"** Ms Darbus Said dramatically playing to an almost empty auditorium.

"**Sharpay and Ryan!" **Ms Darbus called.

Kelsi thanked whichever gods might have been listening that she'd called them first as the twins came out and started their audition song.

They did well and as the song was fast already hadn't altered it much, though their actions were a bit overdramatic.

-o0o-

The basketball team all put their hands in for the last cheer before they took their positions on the court** "Wildcats!" **

They could hear the announcer still talking away in the background "**... the coveted championship trophy!"** and the cheerleaders cheering and dancing their routines making their side of the crowd clap along.

The whistle blew signalling the start of the game and everything else left Troy's mind as he concentrated on the ball.

"**East High wins the opening tip, pushing the ball up the court." **The announcer described the action on court but Troy could no longer hear him as he'd blocked everything out. His ability to focus totally on what was happening on court was one of the things that makes him such a valuable player in big games.

**-o0o-**

Gabriella took the first question glad that it was in her area of expertise. She finished and rushed to hit the timer.

The judge looked over her working out and declared it correct awarding them the first points of the round.

"**We did it!"** Gabriella said excitedly hugging her team as she won the first question.

"**Great job!" **Gabriella complimented the opposition shaking his hand before returning to her seat.

"**All right, Wildcats, time for an orderly exit from the gym" **Taylor said sending the code.

**-o0o-**

"**And West High pushes the ball around the perimeter on the offensive end. Nice ball movement by West High.**

**Driving the lane... shot is up and..."** The announcer kept describing the play to those who needed assistance to know what was happening. Most of the crowd were too busy cheering their teams to listen even if they could hear him over the noise.

A buzzer started sounding as the scoreboard and the overhead lights began to flicker.

"**We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties" **the announcer said wondering what was going on.

The referee whistled for a timeout. **"We've got a timeout on the court here. We have a problem" **The announcer kept talking trying to keep the crowd calm and informed.

"**Stop the game, Stop the game" **the referee said running to the announcers table.

The announcer said **"Referee has signalled timeout. Everyone please remain calm"**

"**Go, go, go, go," **Chad reminded Troy who was looking admiringly at the havoc his friends had caused. Troy looked at Chad thankfully and ran to put his warm-up suit on and head to the call-backs.

"**We'll get this figured out real soon. In the meantime, per safety regulations, we need to all make an orderly exit from the gym, please, Thank you" **Principle Matsui announced. The crowd began to rush to try to get off the beachers and out the door.

-o0o-

**Oh, hi! Call me"** Sharpay said to her friends/fans as they finished singing and left the stage.

"**Do you see why we love the theatre, people? Well done!"** Ms Darbus exclaimed to the nearly empty hall.

"**Ah, Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez" **she announced the next performers but they didn't appear. "**Troy? Gabriella?" **she called again when they didn't appear.

"**They'll be here" **Kelsi said confidently, begging for Ms Darbus to give them a few extra minutes.

"**The theatre, as I have often pointed out, waits for no one, I'm sorry. Well, we are done here. Congratulations to all. The cast list will be posted" **Ms Darbus announced not noticing Ryan and Sharpay grin at each other conspiratorily.

"**Wait! Miss Darbus, wait! We're ready, we can sing"** Troy came running in.

"**I called your names, twice" **Ms Darbus said shaking her head.

"**Miss Darbus, please! Please!" **Gabriella ran up begging.

"**Rules are rules! **Ms Darbus reminded them.

The auditorium began to fill with students evacuated from the gym and science department. The basketball team came in together talking and cheering.

"**We'll be happy to do it again for our fellow students Ms Darbus" **Sharpay said smirking at the now full auditorium.

Ms Darbus looked out into the hall in shock, all the seats were filled and there were people standing around the back of the room. She'd never seen a turnout like this even for a performance they were lucky to fill three quarters of the seats. She began to see the positive side of having the basketball superstar audition for her show, however her stubbornness stopped her from admitting it. **"I don't know what's going on here, but in any event, it's far too late and we have not got a pianist" **she said briskly.

"**Well, that's show biz" **Ryan said sounding way too pleased with himself.

"**We'll sing without a piano" **Troy said desperate to be given a chance.

"**Oh, no, you won't, Pianist here, Miss Darbus"** Kelsi said running up to them.

"**You really don't wanna do that" **Sharpay said trying to sound threatening.

"**Oh, yes, I really do" **Kelsi said looking at Sharpay before walking to the side of the stage dismissing him. "**Ready on stage" **she called from behind the piano.

**Now that's show biz"** Ms Darbus said impressed with Kelsi's support for her favourite pair and knowing that if she didn't give Troy and Gabriella a chance after all this she'd be lynched. She went and sat back down in the auditorium to watch the show.

Kelsi played the intro but Gabriella missed her cue. Troy walked across to see what was wrong.

"**I can't do it, Troy, not with all these people staring at me" **Gabriella whimpered.

Troy took her hands and squeezed gently. **"Hey, hey, look at me, right at me. Right at me. Like the first time we sang together. Remember? Like kindergarten"** he said reassuringly, he took the first lines this time and Gabriella was able to join in. Just as on New Year's Eve once she began to sing the magic of singing with Troy took over and she forgot about the audience and just sung her heart out to Troy.

Chad looked at Zeke and Jason amazed by how great they sounded and how comfortable they looked on stage with each other. Chad started clapping along and then when everyone else was clapping too stood up to show his support.

Jack wondered curiously where the team were going. First Troy ran off like something was after him and then instead of congregating around the entrance to the gym waiting to be let back in to finish the game like the Knights were doing the entire team walks away. Jack watched them enter the auditorium and ran to the backstage entrance to see what was going on. He was surprised to see his son and the Montez girl on stage singing but what truly shocked him was how well the two sang together and the expression of joy and affection on his son's face. An expression he only now realised he hadn't seen much of in quite some time. He hadn't even seen Troy enjoying basketball practice at all in weeks other than yesterday. He'd been worried about his son who hadn't seemed to show much enthusiasm for a lot of things he used to enjoy, not basketball not the parties he was invited to, he'd even stopped sneaking out of an evening and Jack had overheard the cheerleaders complaining about his lack of interest in hanging out with them. In Jack's eyes Troy had become an uncommunicative and angry young man lately and Jack was extremely relieved to discover that singing and the new girl were behind it instead of something much worse.

Maria stood in the back of the auditorium and watched the young couple singing. Their chemistry was no surprise to her having seen the two interact over the two weekends Troy had spent helping Gabriella paint and unpack. The fact that this young man could give her daughter the confidence to sing in front of such a huge crowd, to put herself out there by signing up to audition for a musical was amazing. She'd come to school today expecting to settle her daughters nerves of competing in front of an audience at the decathlon however small they might be, to proudly sit through another decathlon meeting highlighting her daughters academic brilliance, to meet her new team of acquaintances that Gabriella would never trust enough to become real friends with. Instead she'd met co-conspirators, watched Troy give her daughter all the confidence she needed and watched her daughter sing with true joy in doing so.

-o0o-

Lucille looked at her watch as her business meeting ended later than expected. Troy's game would be almost half over by now and it would be too late by the time she got there to make the dash across town worthwhile. She sighed and hoped Jack and Troy hadn't noticed her absence. Hopefully they would win the championships and Jack would be in a better mood tonight. Putting her son and her marriage out o her mind she returned to work hoping to get finished in time to be home at a reasonable hour.

-o0o-

The audience gave them a standing ovation as they finished singing. Gabriella blushed as she suddenly became aware of their presence again having totally forgotten that she and Troy weren't alone rehearsing with Kelsi. Troy hugged Gabriella to his side as Kelsi came running up excitedly hugging them both.

**Whoo!" **Taylor cheered amazed. She was glad now that she and Chad hadn't succeeded on stopping this audition. Troy and Gabriella were amazing together.

"**That's amazing!" **Chad said enthusiastically. Standing and cheering as loudly as he could.

"**Amazing, yeah!" ** Emily agreed clapping. She didn't like Gabriella or more accurately she didn't like the way Troy had abandoned his friendship with her and the other cheerleaders to be with the new girl but she had to admit she was impressed by their performance. She'd had no idea that Troy could sing like that or had any interest in performing.

**-o0o-**

The team headed back to hang around outside the auditorium and Gabriella sent the code to restore the power to the lights and scoreboard. Though the maintenance staff hadn't discovered the problem they were unwilling to admit that and after it settled down for five minutes declared it fixed. Soon they were let back in to continue the game.

Jack was worried that the interruption would harm his team's chances particularly seeing that they'd not stayed warmed up and focused the way the Knights had. He was worried about how the team would concentrate after such a huge distraction and shock in the auditions. Jack was also highly suspicious that Troy had somehow caused the problem with the lighting and concerned that the rest of the team would be angry about it if they realised. He needn't have worried the team were on fire. Troy's success in the auditions had given them all the courage and motivation to play their hardest and everything went right. Troy was playing the kind of game that showed why a junior could be voted captain of the team and why he could be in serious consideration for a full scholarship to college in a couple of years.

Jack watched as Troy took an amazing leap to sink an almost unbelievable last goal winning them the championship.

"**And West High pushin' the ball. Fast break. Looking for an open man. Oh, but it's stolen by number 14 heading back the other way! East High has the ball! Time is running down on the clock! Looking for an open man. Fake. Swing to the outside. Ball on the perimeter. Looks for a man on the inside. Nice screen. Shot's up! And it's good! A 12-foot jump shot as time expires for the victory! East High has won the championship! Your East High Wildcats are champions! Congratulations, East High!" **the announcer said excitedly.

"**Troy! Troy! Troy!" **chanted the crowd.

"**Congratulations" **Dave said presenting Jack the trophy.

"**Thanks" **Jack replied grinning.

"**Coming through! Coming through! Coming through!" **Jack called out pushing through the crowd to hand his son the trophy.

Troy hoisted the trophy in the air and the Wildcats lifted him to their shoulders for a victory lap.

"**What team?**

**Wildcats!**

**What team?**

**Wildcats!**

**What team?**

**Wildcats!**

**Wildcats!**

**Get your head in the game!"** the crowd joined in with the team as they celebrated.

Troy looked up to where his mother would be sitting, frowning when he didn't see her there. At first he assumed she was on her way down to congratulate him but them he realised there wasn't any empty seats. He looked around the auditorium but couldn't see her in the crush as everyone congregated on the court trying to congratulate their friends and family.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, stordec23, Always and Forever Zanessa, Thereadella, 585 and guest for your support.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

**The words in bold are direct quotes from the movie.**

"**I'm proud of you, son!"** Jack said giving Troy a quick manly hug. Letting go before Troy could hug back.

"**Aw, thanks, Dad!" **Troy said awkwardly pleased. 

"**Bravo!" **Estelle Darbus said to Troy as he stood talking to Jack handing him the notice that he'd got the part of Arnold.

"**Brava!" **Jack said to Estelle thanking her for seeing something in his son that he'd missed.

"**Congratulations, Wildcat!" **Gabriella said coming up and hugging his shoulders from behind.

"**What about your team?" **Troy asked spinning around to hug Gabriella.

"**We won too!" **Gabriella said happily.

Troy leaned in to kiss Gabriella when he was interrupted by a basketball shoved in their faces. "**Yo! Team voted you the game ball, Captain!" **Chad said grinning as he realised what he'd interrupted.

"**Yeah! thank you! Thanks a lot!" **Troy said sarcastically.

"**So... you're going with me to the after-party, right?" **Chad asked Taylor cockily grabbing her tightly.

"**Like on a date?" **Taylor asked surprised.

"**Must be your lucky day" **Chad replied smirking.

Taylor smiled and accepted and Chad moved away to finish congratulating the rest of his team.

"**Chad just asked me out" **Taylor gushed grabbing Gabriella away from Troy in her excitement. Gabriella was annoyed to be pulled away just as Troy was going to kiss her but after a moment she realised that as much as she enjoyed kissing Troy and wanted him to show everyone that they were more than friends they really needed to talk about what they wanted from their relationship before making such a statement.

Troy looked around again for his mother. A hollow feeling built in his chest as he realised she wasn't there. She hadn't come to the game. For years she'd come to all Jack's games and now this one where Troy was playing hadn't been important enough for her to leave work for. He knew things weren't good between his parents at the moment but it hadn't even occurred to his that his Mom wouldn't come and support him. He looked around again a little lost, not wanting to join in the cheering and celebrations. He saw Kelsi also looking lost and decided to make his way in her direction.

**Well, congratulations. I'll be the understudy in case you can't make a show, so... break a leg"** Sharpay said to Gabriella.

Gabriella looked at her in shock**. **

"**In theatre that means good luck" **Sharpay explained.

**Hey, Sharpay, I'm sorry you didn't get the lead, but I think you're really good, I admire you so much" **Zeke said nervously.

"**And, why wouldn't you? Now, bye-bye" **Sharpay said walking off.

"**Wait, I baked you some cookies" **Zeke called as she began to walk away

"**Ew" **Sharpay said hurrying off.

"**Nice game" **Ryan stopped to compliment Zeke, taking the cookies.

"**Thanks" **Zeke said unsure whether to be cross that is cookies were stolen or hopeful that Ryan would share them with Sharpay.

"**Composer, here's your game ball. You deserve it! playmaker" **Troy said presenting her with the ball he'd just been given.

Kelsi turned around and smiled at Troy. "We did it" she exclaimed. "You and Gabriella got the leads."

Troy smiled back buoyed by her enthusiasm and went to ask about what happened next with the show and rehearsals and stuff when Kelsi was distracted by Jason who came up and flirted with her, helping her shoot the ball at the basket**. **

Troy smiled at the couple and went to find Gabriella.

"Are you coming to the party tonight?" Troy asked almost shyly after greeting her.

"I don't know Troy from what you've described I don't think I'd enjoy a party like that. You have to go though don't you?" Gabriella said not wanting to go but not wanting to sit home knowing he was at a party like that either.

Troy was quick to reassure her. "No tonight's party won't be like that. It's at my house so I have to be there but it's all the team's parents and everyone" he said. Dad will cook the BBQ and all the Mom's from the team provide salads and dessert. There'll be heaps of food and music and maybe some dancing if you want but it will be completely chaperoned and end about ten thirty" he explained. "Please come. You can invite your Mom too if you like."

"It would be good for her to meet some of the other parents but if it's only parents from the team then it wouldn't help much" Gabriella said.

"Better them than nobody. Not all the Mom's live and breathe basketball" Troy said reassuringly.

"Okay then I'll ask her. I think she's been pretty lonely. She says the people she works with are nice and all that but they don't socialize" Gabriella said smiling.

"I have to get home and help get everything set up" Troy said.

"Do you want some help?" Gabriella offered.

"That'd be great I think I might have to make a salad and stuff too. Mom's been at work so much lately that she's probably forgotten" Troy said flatly.

"You think she'd forget inviting about 50 people over for a party?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"Well she didn't actually invite them. Everyone just knows we have a big party for the team and their families after the last game of the season. But she didn't come to the game" Troy said. "She said she would but she wasn't here. She's never not come to the last game of the season before. She's probably just got sidetracked" he added bravely trying to make excuses.

"Well let's get out of here and I'll help you set up. If need be I'll ring my Mom and ask her to make you a salad and some brownies" Gabriella said pragmatically taking his hand.

"I'll just tell Dad I'm leaving" Troy replied smiling.

He found his father talking to a couple of college scouts and stood back politely to let him finish his conversation.

"Hey Troy" Jack greeted. "Guy's I'd like you to meet our team captain and season MVP winner Troy Bolton. Troy this is Simon Whitby from U of A, and Michael Upton from UNM"

"Pleased to meet you" Troy said shaking each of their hands.

"That was a great game you played tonight son" Simon exclaimed enthusiastically clapping him on the shoulder. "And that last jump shot was amazing. And the teamwork with you and the number eight. It was as if you could hear what each other was thinking."

"Thank you Sir" Troy said slightly embarrassed. "Chad and I have played together for more than ten years now. He's my best friend."

"You're not on our list of students we've received applications from" Michael said questioningly.

"Well no, I'm a junior Sir" Troy replied, seeing the two men immediately look disappointed and lose interest in him somewhat. He turned to his father. "Dad I was just going to let you know I was heading home to help set up for the party tonight."

"Okay Troy I'll see you at home" Jack said smiling. "Are you going with your mother?"

"No Gabriella and I are going to walk. I don't think Mom's here" Troy said trying to sound casual.

Jack frowned but couldn't make a fuss. He was busy trying to sell the scouts on the merits of his senior players even though he knew they'd been outclassed by both Troy and Chad tonight.

"Nice to meet you Troy, hopefully we'll be talking to you next year" Steven said.

"I'll look forward to it Mr. Whitby" Troy replied smiling.

-o0o-

They arrived at Troy's to find the house empty and no preparations started for the party that night. Gabriella immediately whipped out her cell phone.

"Hi Gabriella" Maria answered.

"Hi Mom, I need a huge favour" Gabriella began.

"Are you in trouble? Where are you and I'll come and get you" Maria said anxiously.

"No I'm fine. There's a big party at Troy's tonight and his mom seems to be caught up at work and forgotten about it. I wondered if you could make me a salad and some brownies to bring? Troy says he'll reimburse you for the ingredients" Gabriella asked.

"No need for that I'll get started. What's Troy's address so I can drop them over when I'm done?" Maria said calmly.

Gabriella related the address and thanked her mother.

"Okay that's done. Mom will bring them over when she's done. What else, do you have all the meat and bread and condiments and nibbles and drinks and what about decorations?" Gabriella began to look panicked as she thought of all the things they needed.

Troy went out to the garage and checked the refrigerator there. "I put everything on the shopping list so Dad should have bought it" he said smiling when he found the things he needed.

He and Gabriella got out the trestle tables and set them up. Troy carried out the piles of plastic chairs while Gabriella spread the table cloths and laid out the containers of plates and cutlery. "I'm going over to Chad's to get more chairs" Troy told her.

Gabriella nodded and looked around for something else she could do. Troy returned with Chad and the chairs and they proceeded to hang the decorations. "Mom's making some extra stuff in case your mom didn't have time to do it" Chad said as they were done.

"Gabriella's mom is too. Just as well because I think Mom totally forgot" Troy said pulling ingredients for a green salad out of the fridge.

Chad looked at Troy in concern then exchanged glances with Gabriella who shook her head to stop him from saying anything. It was obvious to her that Troy was holding it together by trying to stay busy and ignore how much it hurt that his mother had forgotten his big game. Gabriella came and helped wash and chop the vegetables while Troy hunted out the platters to put them on.

"See you soon Bro" Chad said clapping him on the back.

Jack arrived home and stood in the doorway watching as Troy efficiently prepared salad platters for the party with the help of his new friend. They looked comfortable together invading each other's space without hesitation to get the job done. "Where's your mother?" Jack asked.

"How would I know I haven't seen her since Sunday" Troy replied snarkily. "She's your wife cant you keep a track of her?"

Jack frowned but chose to ignore his son's attitude. "Didn't she come to the game. She said she was looking forward to it. She knew about the party because she wrote the shopping list" Jack said.

"No I wrote the shopping list. You always host the party and I knew what we needed" Troy corrected. "And I didn't see her at the game."

"I'd better ring her" Jack said. "What still needs to be done, should I pick up a couple of desserts?"

"Charlene Danforth and Ms Montez are making me a couple of extra salads and stuff so we should be right there, more desserts would always be good though" Troy replied.

Shit she's not answering. I'll go pick up the desserts, anything else needs doing?" Jack asked seeing his son had the organising pretty much in hand.

"Did you check the gas for the barbeque?" Troy asked.

"I'll do that" Jack answered heading out to the barbecue to check. He sent a text message to his wife reminding her that the party would start at six-thirty.

Maria Montez arrived with the requested salad and brownies and some warmer clothes for Gabriella.

"You can change in my room. It's the last door on the left. Check the window's locked and close the curtains, my friends sometimes come in that way" he said.

"You don't sleep upstairs?" Maria asked surprised.

No I never did" Troy said smiling. "Mom had a back injury when I was a baby and wasn't allowed to carry me up the stairs. And that was the room I was born in too. It didn't make sense for me to move upstairs once I was old enough to carry all my own stuff up and down."

The Danforths arrived about quarter past six and Charlene took over the kitchen while Charlie went out to check the set up of the grill. "Dad's gone to get another bottle of gas" Troy told him.

"And your mother?" Charlene asked gently.

"Not home yet. Dad thinks she may have completely forgotten the party she's been so busy lately" Troy said briskly.

"She didn't come to the game?" Charlene asked surprised.

"Dad said she was going to but I didn't see her there" Troy said sadly.

"Okay Troy well you've done a great job of setting up on your own" Charlene complimented him trying to change the subject. "Now introduce me to this girl of yours"

"Oh I'm sorry Mrs D this is Gabriella Montez and her mother Ms Montez, Gabriella this is Chad's mom Charlene Danforth" Troy said awkwardly as he realised he didn't know Gabriella's mom's first name.

"I'm Maria" she said smiling.

"Pleased to meet you" Charlene shook Maria's hand then turned to Gabriella, "And this is the girl who convinced our Troy there was more to life than basketball" she said impressed. "Now if you can work a similar magic on my Chad I will be truly grateful."

Gabriella and Maria laughed. "I don't really know Chad very well yet" Gabriella admitted. "But he did ask Taylor from the decathlon team to come as his date tonight."

"Really" Charlene said beaming. "I'll have to keep my eye out for her."

The rest of the guests started to arrive and Troy left Gabriella with her mother while he greeted guests and collected the salads they brought while Jack and Charlie Danforth started grilling.

Soon everyone had a plate and things calmed down enough for Troy to stop and eat himself. He looked around for Gabriella finding her sitting with Taylor watching the boys play basketball. He sat down beside Gabriella. "Hey Troy! You don't want to play?" Gabriella asked.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Troy asked jokingly.

"No I've just never thought you'd be happy to sit and watch when you could play" Gabriella said.

"I'm starving" Troy said eating his dinner. "I was busy earlier. This is my first helping the others have all had two already."

He looked tired too Gabriella realised. He was the star of the game, the reason they had a win to celebrate but he'd been too busy making sure the party ran smoothly to celebrate himself.

"Who's that?" Gabriella said gesturing to the woman arriving with a frown on her face.

Troy looked up "Mom" he said quietly. "She looks pissed I'd better warn Dad" he said getting up.

He ran quickly over to his father who was talking to the other Dads. "Dad I need you for a minute" he said urgently.

"What is it Troy" Jack said standing up.

"Mom's home" Troy said bluntly letting his father know he expected Jack to deal with the situation.

Jack headed towards the front yard to meet his wife. "What on earth Jack?" Lucille asked.

"You know we always host the team party after the championships" Jack said bluntly.

"But I don't have time to host a party. I've been working nonstop trying to deal with this crises" Lucille argued in shock. "I haven't made a salad or desserts or organised the meat or..."

"It's okay, you don't have to do anything. Troy and I are coping just fine hosting the party. Everyone's eaten and Troy has cleared away the salads and is getting out the desserts now" Jack said gesturing to their son busy at work.

"You don't need me at all?" Lucille said sadly.

"Yes Luce I need you and Troy needs his mother, but he's a very independent and capable young man. You should be proud of what he is able to accomplish. He was MVP again today and scored the winning points in the game. He also auditioned and got the lead in the musical, rehearsals start next week and I think he might have a girlfriend. You've missed so much in the last three weeks Luce."

"I've set up interviews to hire another staff member on Tuesday. With a bit of luck in this climate I'll be able to get someone who can start immediately" Lucille said tiredly. "Can you hang in there another week?"

"Of course we can" Jack said hugging his wife. "Now go congratulate your son for winning the championship and see if you can get some information about the Montez girl."

"Is her first name Gabrielle?" Lucille asked.

"Gabriella Montez" Jack agreed nodding, questioning how his wife knew that.

"She's the girl he met at Breckenridge" Lucille said. "The one he rang from the airport to cancel their date, and helped move house the weekend before school started. I noticed his phone bill more than tripled the week after we left Colorado."

"See we do need you. I knew all of those facts and never once put together that they were all about the same person" Jack said ruefully.

Lucille kissed her husband on the cheek and went looking for her son. She found him in the kitchen with a girl she didn't know cutting up the last of the desserts. "Congratulations Troy. You're father said you played really well. I'm sorry I couldn't get there to see it my meeting ran overtime" she said hugging him quickly.

"Thanks Mom" Troy replied not wanting to say that it was okay for her to have missed the game and forgotten about the party leaving him with all the work again.

"Mom this is my friend Gabriella Montez, Gabriella this is my mother Lucille Bolton" Troy introduced.

"Pleased to meet you Gabriella" Lucille said.

Gabriella didn't think she was particularly pleased to meet Troy's mother but manners won over honesty, "Pleased to meet you too Mrs Bolton."

"Troy I'll take over here, you go and hang out with your team mates" Lucille ordered not realising that Troy took that as a slight to his new friend.

Troy frowned "We're done here Mom" he said taking Gabriella's hand and the last of the desserts out to the table before calling out that dessert was served.

"He served himself some cheesecake and he and Gabriella found seats not far from Maria and Charlene Danforth who seemed to be hitting it off.

"Your mom seems to be enjoying the party" Troy commented.

"Unlike yours" Gabriella said wanting him to talk about what was bothering him.

Troy shrugged "Her problem, she always seemed to enjoy the post season parties in the past and she knows just about everyone here" he said dismissively.

"She's been working pretty hard she might have been looking forward to coming home and going to bed" Gabriella suggested.

"Let's not worry about her now, do you want to dance" he asked seeing some of the other players and cheerleaders dancing on the court.

Troy danced with Gabriella until the party started to break up and her mother came to collect her. "Goodnight Troy thanks for inviting us" Maria said smiling.

"Night Ms Montez I hope you had a good time. Talk to you tomorrow Gabriella" Troy said giving his friend a quick hug, disappointed she was leaving early.

The cheerleaders approached him hopefully once Gabriella had left but Troy claimed he needed a break from dancing and went in to grab a drink. He hung out with Jason and Zeke for a while before heading inside and beginning to clean up the kitchen.

A/N: Thank you to ENPD, Pumpkinking5, ENPD, stodec23, ENPD, ceciliaa93, old voldies gone moldie, Thereadella, twilightie88, sheikazutaralover and 16 for your support.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy slept in the next morning but woke full of energy and decided to run in spite of the fact he'd looked forward to having this morning off for weeks. He bounced out of bed and changed deciding to take one of his shorter routes.

When he got back he found Chad, Zeke and Jason playing on his court. "Hey guys" he greeted.

"Hey Troy we came over to help clean up but it looks all done" Chad said.

"Yeah Dad and I did most of it last night. I think he was still too hyped up after the win to go to bed" Troy said smirking.

"Well if we don't have to clean up how about some two on two. I choose Troy" Jason said.

"You're on" Zeke and Chad said.

Troy grabbed the ball and before the others could react, shot and scored.

"How did it go with Taylor last night?" Troy asked Chad.

"Pretty good, she agreed to go with me to Emily's tonight" Chad replied.

"Are you for real?" Troy said surprised.

"Yeah I figure if she wants to be with me she'd gonna have to fit into my life" Chad said.

Troy sighed. "Emily's is gonna be extreme man. I don't want Gabriella to fit into that scene" he said quietly.

"I dunno that you're gonna get a choice man. Taylor was gonna talk to Gabster about the party tonight" Chad said.

Troy groaned. "It's Gabriella that isn't going to get the choice. Taylor will make her feel that she needs to go to the party."

"Is that bad? Don't you want her to come to the party?" Jason asked.

"I don't want to scare her off' Troy explained. "Or to make her feel like she has to do things she doesn't want to do."

-o0o-

Troy arrived at Gabriella's about two o'clock with a couple of brownie dishes and a salad bowl in his arms. "Hey Ms Montez, are any of these yours?" he asked smiling.

"These two are" Maria replied taking them. "Thank you for bringing them back"

"No problem, is Gabriella around?" Troy asked.

"She's upstairs trying to decide what to wear to the party Taylor invited her to tonight. Perhaps you could give her some advice" Maria said smiling at his transparency.

Taylor invited her to Emily's party?" Troy asked.

"Yes I think that's whose party she said. "I met Taylor last night she seems nice?" Maria said fishing for more information.

Troy shrugged, "I'm not the best person to ask about that. We don't normally get along, she's not into sports, or jocks" Troy admitted.

"Well go up and tell Gabriella a little about what the other girls will be wearing tonight so she can make a decision. Taylor seemed quite vague about it" Maria said. "Leave the door open."

"Hey Gabriella" Troy said standing in the open doorway to her room.

"Hey Troy" Gabriella said coming over to hug him.

"Your Mom told me you're going to Emily's party?" Troy said.

"Yeah Taylor said Chad had invited her and all the team will be there. So I figured you'd be there too if she and Chad got too couply and I started feeling like a third wheel" Gabriella said.

Is 'couply' even a word?" Troy teased.

"You know what I meant" Gabriella said.

Troy nodded. "You do know that Emily is a cheerleader and her parents are away for the weekend?" Troy asked. "This is the type of party you didn't want to go to yesterday."

Are you going?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah the party's to celebrate winning the championship so I pretty much have to go" Troy said.

"Would you rather go without me?" Gabriella asked uncertainly.

"No. I'm just worried about you. I'd love to spend the evening with you but I'd rather not take you to that party" Troy said resignedly.

"You said you have to go, so I'm going with you unless you're telling me you don't want me there" Gabriella said stubbornly.

"Gabriella there'll be alcohol and most of the party will get drunk, the party could get out of hand" Troy warned.

"Are you telling me you don't want me to come to the party with you?" Gabriella asked bluntly.

"No" Troy said quickly. "I'm just worried that you'll hate it and never want to go anywhere with me again."

"Will you walk me home if I change my mind and want to leave?" Gabriella asked.

"Of course, we could go early so I have time to hang out with the team and then if the party gets too out of control we can go and do something else" Troy suggested. "But I want you to agree to leave when I want to go. We can't risk getting arrested. It could affect my scholarship chances and yours."

"Okay Troy, you have more experience with these parties than me we'll leave as soon as either of us is uncomfortable" Gabriella agreed.

"One more thing you need to know not to accept drinks from anyone. If you want to get drunk I won't stop you but you need to know what you're drinking. We're not exactly popular with the cheerleaders at the moment and I'm a little concerned about what they might do to get back at us" Troy said concerned.

"What've I done?" Gabriella asked surprised.

"Hung around with me" Troy said. "They're pissed off about the photo, and the threats I made to get them to leave you alone."

"Yeah Erin from the decathlon team was surprised that they hadn't had a go at me" Gabriella commented.

"Okay then we're going, what should I wear?" Gabriella asked.

"Layers, the more the better" Troy said immediately.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked.

"Well the party will be all over the house and yard so you need something warm to wear outside, something cooler to wear in the parts of the house that aren't heated and something thin to wear in the lounge where it will be really warm" Troy said. He thought about warning her that she needed to wear as many layers as possible in case they played a stripping game. "Bring your coat too, it's often quieter outside."

"Will the girls be wearing jeans or skirts?" Gabriella asked.

"The cheerleaders will wear short skirts or dresses, most with no panties, you don't want to dress like them. Wear your jeans it'll be cold out" Troy said cynically.

"I don't want to be the only girl there in jeans" Gabriella said anxiously.

"You won't be, half the school might be there. Lots of girls will be sensibly dressed" Troy replied though to be honest he wasn't sure about that.

Gabriella chose jeans and multiple layers like Troy recommended and they went back downstairs.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't care, we could walk around some more, I could show you the mall or we could stay here and watch a DVD" Troy said. "This might be the last weekend we have without rehearsals for a while so we should make the most of it."

Gabriella laughed. "We should ring Kelsi and get a heads up on learning the other songs" she suggested.

"Do you have her number?" Troy asked.

"No. You don't either? I'll have to ask her for it next week" Gabriella said.

"Yeah" Troy agreed.

"Let's hit the mall" Gabriella said.

"Okay. The nearest mall is pretty small there's a bigger new one over that way" Troy said pointing. "But it's too far to walk. This one has some cool arcade games and a movie theatre, the food court's pretty ordinary but the bakery is great."

They walked around for a while Troy giving Gabriella a tour before heading back to the house where Troy tried not to cringe at their supply of DVD chick flicks.

"I'm sorry we should have borrowed something else to watch while we were at the mall" Gabriella apologised.

"It's fine Gabriella, I haven't seen any of these so why don't you pick what you want to watch" Troy said smiling at her.

"This one?" Gabriella said holding out 'Pride and Prejudice'.

"Well I enjoyed the book" Troy said agreeably.

"Do you want a drink, or some popcorn?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah, do you want some help?" Troy offered.

-o0o-

Gabriella had talked Troy into taking her to Emily's party Saturday night in spite of his better judgement. She was nervous about it but realised that it would cause problems with his team if he didn't go and she didn't want to sit at home worrying about him.

Troy picked her up at eight not wanting to arrive too late or before everyone else. "Are you sure you want to do this Gabriella? This party won't be anything like last night. Emily's parents are away for the weekend and pretty much everyone will get drunk. We could go to the movies?" Troy said.

"Troy we've already discussed this. If I hadn't moved to Albuquerque you wouldn't have even thought twice about going to this party" Gabriella said.

"Yeah and I would have got drunk and had sex with at least one of the cheerleaders. If you want me to do that too then you should stay at home" Troy said crossly.

"No I don't want you to do that" Gabriella said crossly. "I want to spend some time together and to get to know your friends a little."

Troy sighed. "Okay. Don't blame me if you don't enjoy it though" he grumbled.

"I don't want to fight with you" Gabriella said sighing.

"Me neither" Troy replied squeezing her hand.

"Look we're going fairly early and you can hang out with your friends for a while and leave before it gets too wild" Gabriella compromised. "You didn't get a chance to relax and celebrate last night. You need to enjoy yourself."

"Their plan was good in theory but unfortunately they didn't take into account the fact the cheerleaders had started drinking as they were setting up and hadn't eaten dinner so were already more than a little disinhibited by the time people started to arrive.

Troy got himself and Gabriella a coke and they roamed around outside to find Chad and Taylor.

"Gabriella, I can't believe we're here" Taylor said a little wide eyed.

"I can't believe how worried Troy was about bringing me here" Gabriella said.

"You and Taylor seriously going out then?" Troy asked his friend just out of earshot of the girls.

"I dunno but we're giving it a go. If tonight doesn't totally freak her out then maybe" Chad replied. "What about you and Gabriella?"

"We're definitely together. If she freaks out tonight then we won't come to parties like this in future" Troy said.

"You'd give up partying with the team?" Chad asked.

"Yeah Gabriella is special to me and I can't picture her wanting me to come to parties like this on my own and I don't want to force her to spend time somewhere she's uncomfortable" Troy explained his decision. "It's not like I really love these parties anyway. I have a lot more fun just hanging out with Gabriella."

"If she's uncomfortable with everything going on at the party it might make it easier to talk her into finding somewhere quiet for a private party for two" Chad said suggestively.

Troy rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He couldn't blame Chad for thinking like that, Troy had been known to say in the past that he only came to parties for the alcohol and the chance to hook-up and get laid.

"Come on in we're gonna play rainbow" Emily called walking around talking to the various groups outside.

Troy immediately walked back over and wrapped his arms around Gabriella. "Gabriella and I don't wanna play" he said aloud, bending his head to murmur in her ear. "Please trust me on this" he begged quietly.

Gabriella gave him a hard look but didn't argue.

"What's rainbow, how do you play?" Taylor asked.

"Come on in and I'll explain" Liana suggested. "Sure you don't wanna play Troy? This is your favourite game."

"No it isn't Liana" Troy said glaring warningly.

Liana walked away and Gabriella turned to Troy. "Don't you need to go in there and socialise?" she asked.

"Not like that Gabriella. You said you'd leave if this party looks like getting out of hand and playing rainbow is definitely getting out of hand" Troy said.

Gabriella looked at him concerned, "What about Taylor?" she asked quietly.

Troy turned to his friend. "Chad you need to explain this to Taylor before you take her in there" he said.

"No, she wanted to come and see how the cheerleaders party" Chad argued. "She agreed to participate in all the games and stuff. She must have heard the rumours."

"It's a blowjob game" Troy said to Taylor rather than continue trying to convince Chad to tell her.

Taylor and Gabriella paled. "I think I'll stay out here with Gabriella if that's okay" Taylor said uncertainly. "You can go and play if you want to" she said to both boys.

Troy shook his head "I'm happy here" he said pulling Gabriella over to the now empty outdoor recliner and sitting down with her in his lap. "You two joining us?" he asked.

"I'll just get us some more drinks. Do you want anything?" Chad said.

"Coke or lemonade in cans" Troy said firmly.

Chad returned and the four of them sat talking about the one thing they had in common East High. The other three told Gabriella various stories about the teachers and classmates from the first half of the year.

"Are you warm enough?" Troy asked Gabriella.

"Yeah for the moment" Gabriella replied snuggling in.

Taylor by comparison looked quite uncomfortable sitting on Chad's lap. They could see various couples come out of the house and hear groaning but nobody came near where they were sitting.

"You said you'd explain rainbow?" Taylor asked.

Troy sighed. "They give each girl a different colour lipstick and at the end of the game they compare cocks, the guy with the most colours on his cock and the girl with her lipstick on the most cocks win."

"And Liana thinks this is your favourite game?" Gabriella asked incredulously.

"No Troy hates this game" Chad said. "Especially when there are new girls here, that's why he stopped you and Taylor from playing."

Gabriella smiled at Chad. She knew that Troy would hate any game that used peer pressure to force people into sexual encounters they didn't want, but it was nice to have confirmation that his friends knew that about him too.

They talked for a while longer and Chad returned with more drinks. Gabriella noticed that while Chad had brought her and Troy unopened cans Taylor's drink had been opened each time and as time went on Taylor became giggly and relaxed against Chad. It got colder and they went to move inside. Gabriella was a bit anxious about what she might see but Taylor seemed eager to go in and get another drink.

Gabriella was shocked to walk past several boys leaning on walls outside the door and in the laundry and hallway with their pants half down receiving blowjobs from various girls. She was even more shocked that most of them called out to Troy congratulating him on the championship as they walked past. It was stuffy inside the house and Gabriella took off her coat looking for a place to put it. Troy took it and went to hang it on the pegs near the front door dragging Gabriella with him. In the front entryway one of the senior players on the team was receiving a blowjob. Like several of the others he smiled and greeted Troy when he saw him. "Hey Captain! Liana says you're not playing tonight?" Paul asked.

"Hey Paul! No Gabriella and I are just hanging out" Troy said smiling.

Liana had pulled off to talk to Troy as well. "I got a new bigger tongue ring" she said sticking her tongue out to show Troy. You sure you don't want to try it?"

"No thanks Liana" Troy said looking around and seeing Gabriella looking at the couple wide eyed. "In fact I think it might be time for Gabriella and I to go" he added opening the front door.

"Sure Troy see you later" Liana said suggestively.

"See you at school" Troy responded.

Troy helped Gabriella back into her coat. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "You know that I'm not going to come back. Liana was just trying to mess with us." He took her hand and walked slowly towards her house.

"Um yeah I'm fine" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella?" Troy asked stopping under a streetlight to look her in the eyes. "What's the matter you look a little scared?" Troy asked. "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to take you to a party like that."

"Well I admit I got a bit more of an education than I was expecting" Gabriella said. "Would you have had more fun if I hadn't come to the party?" she asked.

"No" Troy said honestly. "I enjoyed talking to you."

"But you would have played the game if Taylor and I hadn't been there?" Gabriella asked.

"No I promised remember. No more sex with cheerleaders" Troy reminded her. "That includes oral."

"So it still would have been my fault you didn't play" Gabriella said.

"Gabriella it's fine. I made that promise willingly and I knew what I would be giving up" Troy said reassuringly. "Rainbow sounds like more fun than it is. Now we have another hour til your curfew. What would you like to do?"

"Go somewhere warm" Gabriella replied immediately.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, ENPD, LaueeeCarter, Ceciliaa93, Thereadella, Stordec and the 2 guests who reviewed anonymously for your support.

A/N2: I've been asked a couple of times if I'm going to continue on with HSM2. The answer is no, this story is far from over but I'm taking it in its own direction. It would be too difficult to fill in the next couple of months and then bring it back on track to make HSM2 fit in the story line.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

"My room's warm and it's only half a block from here. Come on I'll make you some of Mom's hot chocolate" Troy offered.

Gabriella looked at him nervously.

"Gabriella you're safe with me. I've been alone in your room what's the difference? Mom and Dad are home, we can sit in the lounge with them if it makes you more comfortable" Troy said patiently.

"Sitting with your Dad would definitely not make me comfortable" Gabriella replied smartly.

"If it makes you feel better I've never taken any of the cheerleaders home" Troy said.

Gabriella chuckled a little "It does" she admitted.

Troy led her around to his window and helped her climb in "Wait here I'll be back with hot chocolate in a few minutes" Troy said.

"Can I snoop?" Gabriella asked teasingly.

Troy shrugged "Sure" he agreed.

Gabriella looked through his bookshelf and the top of his desk finding nothing but proof of things he'd already told her, favourite books, half completed homework assignments and a photo album half full of pictures of a baby or toddler some by himself and others with Troy.

Troy came back while she was looking at them and handed over a mug of chocolate. "Are these Jakie?" Gabriella asked him.

"Yeah" Troy confirmed smiling.

"There are no secrets here to find are there?" Gabriella asked.

"Not here" Troy said. "You know most of my secrets already. I've told you all the secrets I'm free to share so unless you were wondering boxers or briefs there's nothing to find"

Gabriella blushed. "I didn't look in your underwear" she said scandalised.

Troy laughed "I wouldn't have cared, I wouldn't have given you permission to snoop if there was anything here to hide" he said. "I'm not a girl Gabriella, I don't keep a secret diary or keepsakes of dates."

Gabriella laughed too. "So where are your secrets?" she asked teasingly.

Troy ignored her. "So how'd you like your first unchaperoned party?" he asked wanting her to talk through it.

"Are they all like that?" Gabriella asked.

"Pretty much I think. It doesn't seem so bad when I join in because I'm concentrating on what I'm doing not watching everyone else and the alcohol makes things foggy to remember" Troy replied. "The cheerleaders seemed a little more over the top tonight because they started drinking earlier than everyone else."

"So you play rainbow a lot?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

"We haven't played in a while actually. We played freeze at Brianna's party the other week"

"Freeze sounds a bit too innocent for a party like that" Gabriella said.

"Strip or skull freeze. Everyone but the winner has to have another shot or take off an item of clothing" Troy replied. "That's how I got the photos I'm using to blackmail Liana"

Gabriella laughed and how much clothing did you lose?" She asked beginning to see why Troy didn't think it a big deal to talk on the phone naked.

"Not much I was the most sober person playing so I won most rounds" Troy replied smiling at Gabriella reassuringly.

"Who do you think will win tonight?" Gabriella asked.

"Liana" Troy said without hesitation. "And maybe Jason or Paul"

"Liana's that good?" Gabriella asked dismayed.

Troy shook his head. "No but the tongue ring's that good, or maybe just that unique. I've heard lots of guys discussing how they wanted to try it" he said."And Liana, Jason and Paul looked the most sober when we left."

"What other games do you guys play?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "we don't always play a game but sometimes "I never" occasionally truth or dare when nobody is sober enough to remember what a bad idea it is"

Gabriella laughed "I don't even want to think about what sort of dares you guys can come up with."

"Well the problem is that when nobody's sober enough to object to truth or dare then no one has the sense to object to most of the more crazy ideas either" Troy admitted. "It's probably luck none of us has been arrested."

"What's the craziest thing you've been dared to do?" Gabriella asked.

Troy thought for a moment. "Roll naked in the snow" he said shuddering. "I was also dared to shave Chad's head one time he'd passed out but I was sober enough to say no to that."

Gabriella laughed "I can't imagine Chad without his hair."

"Me either. But I was more worried he'd kill me" Troy said laughing too.

"Do you regret promising to give it up?" Gabriella asked.

Troy looked at her confused. He hadn't promised to give up going to parties.

"Did watching the others make you wish you could have a blowjob too?" Gabriella clarified.

" No, watching other guys get their cocks sucked does nothing for me and I was happy spending time with you though I'll admit to some curiosity about the difference Liana's new tongue ring makes. She had a plain stud in when I tried it" Troy said. "Why?"

"I talked you into taking me to the party" Gabriella replied. "You didn't want to."

"Are you regretting going, or feeling guilty for talking me into it, or worried that I regret taking you?" Troy asked confused about her emotions. "Because if I had to go to the party then I'm glad you came. I've had a lot of fun tonight."

"A little of both" Gabriella admitted. "You would have had a very different night without me there."

"Probably not that different" Troy replied. "If you hadn't come then someone would have told you about the party on Monday. Even having sex at the party I went to while you were still in Breckinridge felt like I was betraying you. If I hadn't have promised no more casual sex I still wouldn't have wanted to hurt you like that. Gabriella we talked about it during the week and you wanted me to think about what I really wanted. I have thought about it a lot and my feelings haven't changed. Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked hopefully.

Gabriella smiled. "Yes" she said simply.

Troy gave a whoop and jumped up pulling Gabriella into his arms and kissing her thoroughly.

Gabriella kissed back enthusiastically until she accidently brushed against his erection and realised how aroused he was. She pulled back blushing and apologising.

"Gabriella it's fine. It's going to happen. Don't worry about it" Troy tried to reassure her. "Would you like me to walk you home? You have about twenty minutes left until curfew but it wouldn't hurt to be a little early."

"Yes please" Gabriella said sounding subdued.

Troy laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders leading her out the French window. They walked home in silence comfortable just to be with each other.

Troy kissed Gabriella chastely on the doorstep. "Goodnight, I'll call you tomorrow" he said.

"Goodnight Troy" Gabriella said kissing him again.

"You better go in before your mom comes out to see what's keeping you" Troy said not wanting her to realise he was aroused again and get upset about it again.

Troy walked home smiling.

-o0o-

Troy walked into the kitchen and was assaulted by the smell of Spanish omelettes. He looked up and saw his mother standing at the stove. "Hi Mom you're up early" he greeted her.

"I could say the same to you for the morning after a big party. There was a party last night wasn't there?" Lucille asked.

"Yeah at Emily's" Tory confirmed. "I didn't stay out late I was still pretty wrecked from Friday."

"Have you had a falling out with Chad, Zeke and Jason? I didn't see you hanging out with them the other night either" Lucille said concerned.

"Nah! They came over yesterday while you were at work to help me clean up after the party and ended up staying to play some ball when we finished" Troy said casually. He saw his mother wince in guilt either at the mention of the party or the cleanup she'd let Troy to do in favour of returning to work. "I was just tired. Doing all the preparation and setup for the party last night after the championships wore me out" he said deciding to turn the screws a little more he'd been seriously upset and hurt when he'd realised she hadn't come to his championship game.

"You did a great job everything ran really smoothly" Lucille said honestly.

Troy shrugged brushing off the compliment. "Yeah but it would have been nice to have more time to actually celebrate winning the championship instead of making sure everyone else was enjoying themselves" he said.

"You would have had that opportunity last night though" Lucille said quietly.

"It isn't the same. I didn't feel like getting drunk and it's no fun being the only sober guy at the party" Troy dismissed the suggestion.

"You know I remember how I sat with you at the championships all those years we'd go to support Dad and you'd tell me how one day it would be me out there playing and how proud you would be. How you'd tease me that you were going to make such a fuss at the after party and be more embarrassing than Mrs Redman. Do you remember?" Troy said sadly. "I never thought that I would regret you not following through on those threats."

Lucille thought back to all those years she (and Troy once he was born) had gone to watch the last game of the season to support her husband. She remembered how excited Troy had always been about the noise and cheering and the game itself once he was old enough to understand it. And how in recent years Troy had laughed about the overly emotional parents of the players whom they usually sat with. This was the first championship game she'd missed since she and Jack had begun dating. That it was also Troy's first time playing in a championship hit hard. She'd been a terrible mother in the last month or so and she hoped desperately that she hadn't damaged her relationship with her son beyond her ability to fix.

"I'm sorry Troy. I did intend to come to the game. I'd even scheduled it in my calendar. But the meeting I was in ran late and it was vital that we reach an agreement. I couldn't just leave"

"Must have been a pretty long meeting if it was supposed to end in time for you to get to the game and you still didn't get home until after nine" Troy said sarcastically. "You forgot all about us didn't you" he accused.

Lucille didn't admit it. "I'm sorry Troy" she apologised again with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah" Troy admitted that he believed she was sorry. The problem was he still didn't believe it wouldn't happen again.

"Tell me about your new friend Gabriella?" Lucille asked after a while hoping to get rid of the depressing thoughts.

"She understands me. Her Mom puts her career ahead of her family too. The difference is that Ms Montez' career moves her all around America every four to six months. At least you've never been able to do that. Gabriella hates moving house and changing schools all the time. She's working really hard to finish high school a year early so that when her Mom moves again she doesn't have to start at another school. She dreams of going to college and knowing she'll be able to have the same friends for four years" Troy said.

"That's really sad. She really would rather leave home than stay with her mother?" Lucille asked horrified.

"This is her seventh high school" Troy said bluntly. "Half the time she says she's only just started to make friends when her Mom tells her that it's time to move again. Last summer they moved immediately after school finished and they moved to a neighbourhood there were no kids her age. She didn't even make a friendly acquaintance all summer. Her Mom was working ten to twelve hours a day six or seven days a week and she was entirely alone. I can't blame her for not wanting to go through that again." What Troy didn't say was that he understood exactly how Gabriella was feeling. The way his parent's marriage was going Troy could see himself soon being forced to make a choice of which parent he wanted to live with and his honest answer was he didn't really want to live with either of them. He envied Gabriella the opportunity to leave home for college a year early if things became untenable at home. That is he reminded himself if his mother even wanted him to come with her when she left his father. Sometimes he thought lately she would prefer to live on her own.

"Does she want to stay here and go to U of A?" Lucille asked distracting Troy from his thoughts.

"No she wants to go Stanford" Troy said.

"She's smart enough to get into Stanford a year early?" Lucille asked incredulously knowing that was almost unheard of.

"Yeah she got a perfect score on her SATs" Troy said. "She's been offered a full academic scholarship for whenever she wants to start."

'Then what on earth is she doing hanging around with the basketball team?' Lucille thought. "It doesn't sound like the two of you have much in common" she said more diplomatically.

"Hey I get good marks when Dad lets me have enough time to actually do my homework" Troy said crossly. "I could get straight A's if I didn't have hours of basketball training every day."

"Yes but you don't actually have an interest in academics" Lucille backpedalled. "It takes a lot more than straight A's to be accepted for early entry at a college like Stanford."

"Gabriella's brilliant" Troy agreed grinning. "But she's interested in more than just academics. We have a lot in common though you wouldn't think it at first glance. Besides she doesn't hang about with the team she hands out with me."

"Your father told me you auditioned for a part in the school musical?" Lucille asked hesitantly not sure Jack hadn't been making things up.

"Yeah we auditioned a couple of weeks ago. Call-backs were yesterday. Gabriella and I got the lead roles" Troy said.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Lucille asked surprised.

"Because every time I've seen you since we got back from holiday you've either been telling me off or arguing with Dad" troy said bluntly. "I was beginning to think that the only way to sit down and talk to you was to ring your office and make an appointment."

"Then why didn't you?" Lucille asked hurt by the criticism.

"Too busy training five hours a day and trying to keep up with my schoolwork and all the housework" Troy retorted.

Lucille sighed. "Do you have plans for the day?" she asked trying to continue a civil conversation hoping Troy would get over his anger.

"Not yet. Someone needs to do laundry and go shopping we're almost out of food and I'm hoping to spend the afternoon with Gabriella. What about you?" Troy asked hoping that his mother would offer to do the shopping. It was stressful shopping with his father and his mother tended to buy at least a few treats his Dad wouldn't buy anything that didn't fit in with his diet plan.

Lucille stood and picked up her keys. "I'm going in to work for a few hours I'll be home for dinner."

Troy pulled a face.

"I'm interviewing for more staff next week. Things should be back to normal soon" Lucille said reassuringly.

"Yeah whatever" Troy said as he got up ready to start the laundry and clean the kitchen when Gabriella rang. He walked outside to give himself privacy to talk to her.

-o0o-

Gabriella woke up smiling late the next morning. She checked her phone and found messages from Troy and Taylor. She opened Troy's first.

MORNING GORGEOUS

She rang back "Hey Gabriella, did you just wake up?" Troy asked.

"Yeah and I suppose you've run five or six miles, done laundry, cooked breakfast, cleaned the house and done some homework" Gabriella said teasingly.

"No actually. Mom had breakfast ready when I got back from running and we sat and caught up. It was good. She wanted to know all about you and the auditions and the championship" Troy said trying to put a positive spin on the conversation he'd just had with his mother. He was glad she'd made time to sit and talk to him but so many things had happened lately that he was still angry about.

"That's great Troy" Gabriella said enthusiastically. "Am I interrupting?" she asked anxiously.

"No Mom's gone to work" Troy said ruefully. "She said she's interviewing for more staff again next week and things will settle down when she gets someone." It was clear from his tone that Troy believed things would really change about as much as Gabriella believed her mother wouldn't accept another transfer before she graduated.

"Well at least she's trying Troy. Do you have plans for today?" Gabriella asked.

"Dad and I need to go grocery shopping, and I need to do laundry" Troy said. "I need to get some homework done too. You could come over this afternoon and study with me."

"I'd like that but will your Dad be all right with me coming over?" Gabriella asked. "Why don't you come over here?"

"Yeah okay I'll see you after lunch" Troy said smiling.

"Bye Troy I'll let you get your work done. Have a good morning" Gabriella said.

"Bye Gabriella" Troy replied.

Gabriella then checked the text from Taylor.

CALL ME WHEN U WAKE UP

"Hi this is Taylor" she answered.

"Hi Taylor it's Gabriella" she said.

"Where'd you get to last night?" Taylor demanded.

"Troy and I left early and he walked me home. It got a bit crazy at the party. The cheerleaders kept approaching Troy and he got fed up with it" Gabriella explained.

"Yeah or he took you home so he could go back and play" Taylor suggested snidely.

"Troy wouldn't do that" Gabriella said crossly, upset that her friend would suggest that to her.

"I think Chad regretted not being able to play" Taylor said uncertainly. "He would have played if Troy didn't make a fuss about it."

"He seemed happy enough when he came back out with the drinks and sat with us" Gabriella said mildly. She didn't want to upset her friend but she thought Taylor was right. Chad would have played rainbow if Troy hadn't said anything and he'd expected Taylor to play as well.

"He would have let me go in and learn about the game in front of everyone and make a fool out of myself if Troy hadn't told me about the game" Taylor argued.

"Maybe he just didn't think it through. Every other girl at that party was playing, maybe he didn't realise it would freak us out. I don't think either of them is used to hanging around with girls like us. Troy just knows me better than Chad knows you" Gabriella said reassuringly.

"Aren't you scared Troy's going to expect you to play next time you go to a party?" Taylor asked.

"Not really. He didn't want me to go to the party at all. If you hadn't been going I don't think he would have taken me" Gabriella said.

"He would have gone to the party and got I don't know how many blowjobs instead of going out with you on a Saturday night. Doesn't that tell you something?" Taylor asked incredulously.

"No he offered to take me to be movies or something instead" Gabriella refuted.

"What are you doing this afternoon? Would you like to come over and study?" Taylor invited.

"I'm sorry Taylor but Troy's coming over to study with me" Gabriella replied apologetically.

"Coming to study your anatomy you mean" Taylor said snidely. "Or to have you do his homework for him."

"No he does his own work" Gabriella said annoyed. "He doesn't even ask for my help with things. Troy has some trouble getting all his homework done on time during the season because of his training schedule but he's smart enough to pass his classes without help" Gabriella didn't add from what she'd seen Troy was nearly as good at mathematics as Taylor was.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, LaueeeCarter, twilightie88, stordec23, TheirGirl, dA-NeRVe and guest for your support.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

A/N: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

After talking to Taylor, Gabriella was a little hesitant when Troy arrived what he'd expect from a study date now she was his girlfriend. But he took his books straight through to the dining room just like the week before and sat down ready to work. "Have you got much work to do?" he asked smiling.

"Plenty" Gabriella said groaning theatrically then grinning. "No not too much. I should be able to finish it all this afternoon" she said more realistically.

Troy laughed. "Yeah me too" he agreed.

They worked companionably until Maria came in with a plate of warm cookies. "You got time for a break?" she asked.

"Thanks Mom" Gabriella said smiling.

"Thanks Ms Montez" Troy echoed. "Are you nearly done?" he asked Gabriella.

"I've still got things to do but nothing that's due before Wednesday" Gabriella replied. "So I could take a break and do it later if you've had enough?"

"I was wondering if you could read through my English essay and check the grammar and stuff" Troy asked diffidently.

"Of course. I'm happy to look it over" Gabriella said smiling. "Have you got much else to do?"

"A couple more problems to solve for math" Troy replied.

They finished their snack and Troy finished his math while Gabriella read is essay.

"Troy?" Gabriella said hesitantly. "Do you just want me to check the spelling and grammar or do you want some advice as well?"

"Whatever you're happy to give me. I don't want you to do my work for me or for you to feel I'm taking advantage" Troy replied. "Be as brutal as you like, I won't take offence if you tell me it's crap."

"Okay then, it's actually pretty good but you need to check the quote I underlined because I think you've paraphrased it, and your conclusion needs to be stronger. You could also add a sentence here about how C-sections are common now and nobody thinks those babies aren't born of their mothers it was just it was almost unheard of back then that people could think the child wasn't actually born" Gabriella said drawing an asterisk on the essay.

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said smiling. "I'll fix it when I type it up tonight."

Gabriella smiled in relief. Troy had taken her suggestions well if he included them he should get a good mark and she hadn't actually done any of the work for him.

-o0o-

Ms Darbus handed Troy and Gabriella their rehearsal schedules in homeroom on Monday. As the two leads at least one of them had rehearsals or practice with Kelsi scheduled in most days.

"What on earth have we let ourselves in for?" Gabriella asked looking at the schedule.

"Is this negotiable?" Troy asked. "Because I still have basketball practice every day as well and some of these will clash."

"The theatre requires commitment young man" Ms Darbus said severely.

"All your practice times with me are negotiable as long as we get them done each week" Kelsi said smiling.

"I'm going to have some clashes with the decathlon too. I can reschedule a lot of the training but not the competition times. How about Troy and I will get our schedules and we'll meet up at lunch time to work this out" Gabriella suggested.

Ms Darbus huffed.

"We're both prepared to put the work in but we need to fit it into our schedules as well. You knew that Gabriella and I had other commitments we couldn't just walk away from when you cast us" Troy reminded the frustrated drama teacher.

"That sounds like a good idea" Kelsi said smiling.

Gabriella looked gratefully at Troy and Kelsi "Troy can you get a practice schedule off your Dad? I'm assuming it will ease back now the championship is done?" she asked.

"Yeah we should drop back to three or four practices a week instead of two or three per day" Troy agreed. "I'll talk to Dad in free period. With a bit of luck he might be able to schedule most of the practices around this" he said waving the schedule Ms Darbus had given him.

-o0o-

"So how did your study date with Troy go?" Taylor asked smirking.

"It was good. You were wrong by the way. Troy was happy to do his own homework. We had fun studying together. He asked me to be his girlfriend" Gabriella said happily.

"And you said yes. Gabriella are you nuts? You know how he treats his girlfriends" Taylor exclaimed.

"No and neither do you he hasn't had a girlfriend in more than five years" Gabriella said crossly. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"I'm sorry Gabriella I'm glad that you're happy but I'm worried about you" Taylor said apologetically.

Gabriella sighed but decided to accept the apology. "What about you and Chad? You looked like you were having fun when we left the other night" she asked.

"Yeah it was fun" Taylor replied blushing. "I haven't heard from him since then though."

"You saw him in homeroom. How did he act" Gabriella asked.

"He was busy fooling around with his basketball, with the guys until Darbus came in" Taylor replied. "He didn't even look my way."

"You didn't say hello to him either" Gabriella pointed out.

"Why should I be the one to say hello?" Taylor asked annoyed.

"You were talking with Erin someone who has a history of helping you put Chad and his friends down. I'm not surprised he didn't approach the two of you" Gabriella said insightfully. "If you want to be with him you're going to have to show him you've changed your attitude."

"Why should I change for him?" Taylor demanded.

"I'm not saying you should change your beliefs or your personality but you need to tone down the insults. When is the last time you actually said something nice about Chad?" Gabriella asked firmly. "Why do you even want to go out with him if you think so badly of him?"

Taylor blushed. "Well he's the only guy who's asked me out" she said quietly.

"Then you're using him" Gabriella said. "I'd be careful Taylor. All those criticisms you have about me dating Troy would be true for Chad too. And if you are just using him and haven't built an honest friendship then he has no real reason not to treat you the way he treats the cheerleaders."

"I'm not that sort of girl. He should know that" Taylor protested.

"Yet you're just using him, why shouldn't he use you" Gabriella said bluntly walking away before she said something that would ruin any chance of maintaining their friendship.

-o0o-

Jack was happy to provide Troy a practice schedule and Troy deliberately included his training at home with his father so Darbus could see how busy he was. He also rang his uncle and confirmed which nights he'd be looking after Jakie for the next couple of months and added them to his schedule.

Gabriella also highlighted the decathlon meets on her schedule and pencilled in the decathlon practice. Troy pencilled the decathlon meets onto his schedule too because he'd like to go and support Gabriella. He then added all the rehearsals that didn't clash with anything and highlighted on the list Ms Darbus gave him which ones needed to be changed.

They met with Ms Darbus at the start of lunch. She was resistant to the idea of changing her schedule but once she saw how organised Troy and Gabriella were and how many other commitments they had she was willing to negotiate. In the end Troy would miss one practice a week and reschedule one training session at home and Gabriella would also reschedule a couple of decathlon practices for whole cast rehearsals and their private or couple rehearsals were moved to fit their schedules. Kelsi then came in and scheduled around everything else leaving them with almost no free time.

-o0o-

Troy text his uncle as he finished rehearsal Thursday night and he picked him up about ten minutes later. "Hey Troy. You're late tonight. Jack on the warpath about something again?" Steve asked.

"No I had rehearsal not practice. You know for two people who don't see eye to eye on anything Dad and Darbus sure have a lot in common when it comes to slave-driving" Troy said ruefully.

Steve laughed. "And are you enjoying rehearsals?" he asked.

"Yeah some of them are a lot of fun, especially the dance stuff where the whole casts involved. It's really cool" Troy said enthusiastically. "Where are you and Deb going tonight?"

"Out to dinner with a couple of colleagues from work. Should be a fairly early night for you" Steve said.

"That's fine. Once Jakie's asleep it doesn't make much difference. I'd be doing homework if I was home as well" Troy said.

"Or out with a girlfriend?" Steve suggested.

"Not on a school night her mom's kinda strict and she has a lot more homework than me" Troy said. "I'll probably call her later though."

"So it's definitely one girlfriend now not a whole bunch of them" Steve said amused.

"Yeah" Troy said smiling. "And she's a real girlfriend too not just a fuck buddy. It's great."

Steve laughed.

They arrived at the house and Jakie came running to meet them hugging Steve and then Troy. "Outsi" he demanded.

"No Jakie it's raining" Troy said patiently.

"Oh thank goodness you're here. He's been demanding to go out since I picked him up from Sophie's. He needs a way to burn up some energy without going out and getting wet. And I need to get ready" Deb said tiredly.

"Is is safe for him in the garage? We could go out and play some ball out there" Troy suggested quietly.

"You'd have to keep a really close eye on him" Deb said dubiously. "Do you want me to put my car out so you'd have more clear space?"

"Yeah if you don't mind" Troy agreed. He bundled Jakie into his coat and because the garage wasn't heated while Deb moved her car, and grabbed the ball and bat. He and Jakie had an energetic game of ball which quickly turned into Jakie running to try and get into things he shouldn't and Troy catching him and swinging his around making him squeal in delight. They were both red faced and panting by the time Steve and Deb stuck their heads in to say goodbye.

"Oh dear, you'll never get him to sleep" Deb said.

"It'll be fine, we'll have dinner and a bath and read some stories. If all else fails I have 30 pages to read on the Truman administration for my government class. That book would put anyone to sleep" Troy said.

Debra laughed. "Well we will wake you up when we get home" she said.

"Or would you prefer me to just throw a blanket over you and drive you home in the morning again" Steve said.

Troy shrugged. "Whatever suits I don't mind" he said lifting Jakie over his head and flying him around the room.

"Fwy fwy" Jakie yelled.

"Yes Jakie's flying" Troy called. "Let's fly into the kitchen and see what your Mom left us for dinner."

If Troy was disappointed to find a tray of chicken nuggets and oven fries he didn't let on. "Nuggets and fries Jakie, Deb must have been busy today. Are you hungry?" he asked cheerfully.

"Outsi" Jakie said.

"No Jakie it's too cold and wet" Troy said strapping him into his high chair and cutting him up a carrot and some pieces of snow peas.

The oven timer went and Troy served up the meals leaving Jakie's to cool. He helped himself to salad and poured them both a drink of milk.

Jakie finished his carrots and peas and Troy gave him his nuggets and chips. He finished his own meal and began cleaning up.

He and Jakie took a shower and he brought him down to sit him on his lap and read him a story. Jakie however had other ideas "Outsi" he demanded.

"No Jakie it's night time it's dark out there" Troy said opening the blind to show him. He carried him into the lounge and picked out a book. He sat down and started to read. The book was about a teddy bear.

"Baby" Jakie said pointing to the teddy "baby."

"No Jakie that's a teddy bear. Teddy"

"Baby" Jakie said demandingly.

Troy got up and fetched the teddy from the couch. "Teddy" he offered.

Jakie threw the teddy on the floor. "No! Baby!" he demanded.

Troy carried Jakie upstairs to look for another teddy or baby doll, he offered several to Jakie but he didn't want any of them. They went back downstairs and Troy tried to read a different story but Jakie wouldn't sit still. "I might have known our routine was too good to last" Troy said ruefully.

He sat Jakie on the floor and they played blocks for a while until the little boy started to tire. Troy picked him up and rocked him gently and started to sing. Soon Jakie was asleep and Troy carried him up to bed and tucked him in.

He came downstairs and sat at the table knowing he'd be more likely to get through his reading if he was less comfortable.

He read until he was drowsy and then took a break to call Gabriella.

"Hey Troy. How's Jakie?" Gabriella asked.

"He's sleeping. We played until he was worn out" Troy said.

"So you've had a good evening then. Why do you sound so tired?" Gabriella asked.

"I was trying to read my government assignment. This has got to be the most boring book. You could market it as a cure for insomnia" Troy complained.

Do you have much more to read?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah. I don't think I'm gonna make it" Troy said "and I don't remember half of what I have read."

"Try taking notes rather than just reading it should keep you awake" Gabriella suggested. "Then even if you don't remember you only need to read back through the notes.

"How's your evening been?"

"Boring. Mom worked late and has just got home. I'm nearly finished my homework though" Gabriella said.

"What do you want to do this weekend?" Troy asked.

"I've got practice with Kelsi Saturday morning" Gabriella said. "Do you have any parties you need to go to?"

"There's a couple on if you wanna go but nothing Dad or the team will be pissed at me for missing" Troy replied.

"Will they be like Emily's?" Gabriella asked uncertainly.

"Sean's will be a complete zoo. He's invited the entire senior year and about half the juniors. His brother works for a bar so will get him a couple of kegs so it could get a bit wild but he's not in with the cheerleaders so they won't be in control of the party like they were last weekend. I heard Dutch is having a party too I wasn't specifically invited and he's invited a lot of the guys that do marijuana so I really don't want to go to that one. And one of the JV, Jimmie Zara invited me to his party but I think the best thing I can do for him is tell everyone I'm not going and then hopefully it will remain just the 9th and 10th graders and not get too out of control."

"So if you were going to a party it would be Sean's?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah, but I'm happy to go to the movies or ten pin bowling or something instead" Troy replied.

"Would you have gone to the party if I wasn't here?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged then realised she couldn't see him. "Maybe, it would've depended how I was feeling. If I needed to get hammered to take a break from the pressure" Troy said. "I would have just as much fun with you doing something else though."

"What's on at the cinema?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, haven't had time to look" Troy said.

"I'll look it up online. Do you have a cinema you prefer?" Gabriella asked.

"We usually go to High Ridge" Troy said.

"I'd better go and let you finish your reading" Gabriella said. "I'll see you tomorrow"

"Goodnight Gabriella, see you in the morning" Troy said

"Goodnight Troy" Gabriella replied.

Taking notes as he read was somewhat effective Debra and Steve still found him asleep at the table but he'd read all but the last couple of pages and his notes meant he'd never have to read most of it again.

Steve shook him awake grateful that he woke easily this week. "Time to go home Troy"

"Mmh Huh" Troy said.

Steve laughed. "You weren't joking about the reading. It's time to wake up, pack up your stuff and I'll drive you home."

"Thanks Uncle Steve" Troy said stretching and picking up his books. "I'm ready to go."

"Did you have a good evening?" Steve asked as he drove.

"Aunt Deb was right I shouldn't have hyped him up so much he didn't want to go to sleep" Troy admitted.

"He rarely does these days Troy it probably wouldn't have made a difference" Steve reassured him.

"He was demanding 'Baby' what was he asking for?" Troy asked.

Steve sighed "Sophie has recently started looking after another child. The little girl is six months old and Jacob calls her baby" he explained.

"So he was asking for his friend. There wasn't anything I could have given him to calm him down" Troy confirmed relieved he hadn't distressed Jakie by missing something he should have done to fix it. "Thanks Uncle Steve."

-o0o-

"Do you want to do something tonight seeing you don't have rehearsals for a change? I could show you around and we could watch a DVD Taylor suggested as they walked out of their chemistry class.

"I'm sorry Taylor I can't. I have a date with Troy" Gabriella said.

"You're going on a date with Troy?" Taylor had asked concerned.

"Yes. I'm his girlfriend. He asked me to go to the movies with him on Friday" Gabriella said happily. "What's the problem?" she asked seeing Taylor frowning at her.

"Don't you remember what I told you about Troy never dating the same girl twice unless she has sex with him?" Taylor demanded.

"Yes and I told you that it was rubbish. You couldn't tell me one single girl who actually said that" Gabriella said crossly.

"You also told me Troy didn't date and here we are less than three weeks later Troy's asked you for a date" Taylor argued.

Gabriella said nothing. She didn't want to tell Taylor that she and Troy had talked about sex and he'd promised not to pressure her into more than she was ready for. Or how adorably nervous he'd seemed to be when asking her to go out with him this weekend.

"Drop it Taylor. I believe him" Gabriella said fiercely.

"Oh Honey! Don't you see? It doesn't matter if the rumours true or not. As soon as the two of you have a second date everyone is going to believe you're sleeping with Troy" Taylor said condescendingly.

"I'm Troy's girlfriend, the rumours are going to occur whether we go to the movies or not. In fact they'd probably be worse if Troy and I spend all our time together hanging out at my place or his" Gabriella said reasonably.

Taylor sighed but couldn't deny that Gabriella was right.

"And what happens when you break up? Every boy who asks you out will expect you to sleep with them on the first date as well" Taylor warned her.

"So what! I won't date anyone else. I haven't met anyone else I would like to date here anyhow. The chances are my Mom will be transferred again over the summer anyway if I'm even here that long. If Troy and I break up I will concentrate on my studies and go to Stanford next year. I'm going to have the same pressures from college boys in any case"

Scott who had been eavesdropping on their conversation frowned slightly and moved away. He'd liked Gabriella and had been planning to ask her out as soon as he could catch her alone. He hadn't thought her friendship with the basketball star was romantic and to hear her defending him so passionately hurt him a little. That Gabriella had also dismissed him as being potentially dateable when she and Troy broke up hit him and his ego hard.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, Ceciliaa93, ENPD, ENDP, old voldys gone moldy, LaueeeCarter, Fourtris troyella shippers and the two anonymous guests who reviewed for your support.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy was surprised how nervous he was as he walked over to pick Gabriella up for their first real date Friday night. He reminded himself that this was the same girl he'd spent nearly two hours every day either with or talking to on the phone for the last month had gone to two parties with the weekend before and who'd been his girlfriend for 5 days now. He knew her well enough that he shouldn't be scared of a trip to the movies with maybe ice-cream or snacks afterwards if things went well but it was still his first ever real date. He'd dressed with care and knew he looked his best. He knocked on the door and thrust both fists in his pockets.

Gabriella was also a little nervous, not because she didn't trust Troy had meant what he said about being happy to wait until she was ready for more than kisses even after Taylor had tried again to warn her about the rumours of what Troy would expect of her if she went on this date. She was nervous because it seemed so different waiting for Troy to pick her up for a date instead of to go to school or Kelsi's or even the party he took her to last weekend though that had been nerve wracking as well in a different way. She tried on several different outfits before her mother arrived home.

"What on earth?" Maria asked stopping in the bedroom doorway to tell Gabriella she was home and finding the bed covered in clothing.

"Hi Mom. I'm trying to decide what I should wear to the movies tonight" Gabriella said distractedly.

"Who are you going with?" Maria asked.

"Troy" Gabriella replied.

"So is it a movie with a friend or a date?" Maria asked.

"A Date" Gabriella said smiling nervously.

"And will he be picking you up in a car or will you be walking to and from the cinema?" Maria asked.

Gabriella looked surprised by the question. "I don't know. The cinema's not very far from here so we could walk" she said thoughtfully.

"Then I'd suggest you wear jeans and boots you can walk in. It's cold out tonight" Maria suggested practically. "And take a thick coat."

Gabriella started putting away the dresses and skirts. She pulled out her newest jeans and high heeled boots. She chose a light weight jumper and got out her heavy coat to wear while outside if they were walking and a more fashionable coat in case Troy arrived in a car. She put her hair up in a messy bun then pulled it out and brushed it, she tried a pony tail but pulled it out as well. She made her face up lightly and thought about putting her hair up again when her mother called up to her that Troy had arrived.

Gabriella peeked downstairs and saw Troy wearing a warm jacket. She grabbed her heavy coat and hurried downstairs.

"Hi Troy" she said almost shyly.

Troy smiled as he watched her walk down the stairs. "Hay Gabriella you look nice" he said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes" she said. "What time do I need to be home by?" she asked her mother.

"Does ten thirty suit your plans Troy?" Maria asked.

"Yes that's fine Ms Montez" Troy agreed.

"Ten thirty then. Have a nice evening" Maria said.

Troy took Gabriella's hand as they walked towards the theatre. "Are you warm enough?" he asked. "I had hoped to borrow Mom's car but she and Dad both had plans" he added apologetically.

"It's fine Troy. We'll be at the cinema in a minute" Gabriella said.

They arrived and chose a movie, Gabriella declaring she was happy to see 'Casino Royale' and Troy bought them popcorn. They sat up the back corner and when Gabriella took off her jacket Troy put it with his on the seat next to her to dissuade someone from sitting there. He raised the armrest between the seats and sat wrapped Gabriella in his arms. Gabriella looked at him surprised. "It's okay Gabriella I just want some space. Zeke and Jason were talking about coming to see this movie tonight too" Troy reassured her.

Gabriella relaxed and leaned on Troy keeping an eye on the entrance. "Is that Chad?" she asked noticing the hair.

"Yeah and Jason and Zeke are with him. Let's hope they go to their usual seats" Troy said keeping his head down.

The boys headed to the other side of the theatre and took their seats loudly teasing each other.

"I think we're safe" Gabriella said. "Why don't you want them to know we're here?"

"Chad and Zeke are the most annoying people to watch movies with" Troy said. "They get bored to easily."

"Are there many other people from school here?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah quite a few" Troy said. "Are you worried about being seen with me?" he asked.

"No it's just I didn't really recognise anyone so I wondered" Gabriella said.

They enjoyed the movie and Gabriella found Troy a great person to see movies with. She sat comfortably with his arms around her and he didn't fidget or let his hands roam places she didn't want them to or whisper in her ear as she was trying to concentrate on the storyline.

"We've got about an hour. Are you hungry?" Troy asked as they came out.

Gabriella really wasn't but didn't want to end the evening yet. "Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"I dunno" Troy said. "Maybe the ice cream parlour or Burger King is up the road."

"I don't care I'm not very hungry but isn't it too cold for ice-cream?" Gabriella asked.

"It's never too cold for ice-cream" Troy said laughing. "But it is too cold to just walk around outside or sit in the park or on your front porch" he said. "Let's go to Starbucks if you're not hungry" he suggested.

Gabriella smiled "sounds good" she agreed.

They ran into Chad, Jason and Zeke out in the foyer who tried to convince Troy to join them at Burger King.

"No we're not hungry. I'll see you tomorrow" Troy said.

"Come on over and play Xbox tomorrow morning. Come for breakfast, Mom's complaining she hasn't seen enough of you lately" Chad said.

"Do we have plans with Kelsi tomorrow?" Troy asked Gabriella.

"We're meeting her at three" Gabriella informed him.

"Okay I'll see you in the morning" Troy told his friends watching them walk away as he helped Gabriella back into her coat.

"What have you got planned for the rest of the weekend?" Troy asked Gabriella as they walked along.

"I'm going to Taylor's tomorrow morning. Her Mom's going to take us to the bigger mall to shop. And Mom and I are going to look at decorating ideas for the lounge room."

"Is she going to paint it? I'd be happy to help you paint" Troy said.

I'll pass on your offer but she's trying to avoid painting if she can. The colour's not too bad. We've got some stuff to hang and she wants to replace the curtains" Gabriella said. "Do you want to come over and study again on Sunday?"

"I'd like that" Troy agreed smiling.

They ordered hot chocolates and cookies and found seats on a couch in the corner. "What about your diet?" Gabriella teased.

"I mostly stick to it" Troy said shrugging. "We had steak and lots of green vegetables for dinner and no carbs" Troy said pulling a face.

"Does your Mom keep to your diet too?" Gabriella asked.

"When she's home she does. Occasionally she will bake something but they're mostly low sugar low fat treats" Troy said. "It's not so bad. I get plenty of extra baking from Zeke now that he's confessed his hobby."

Gabriella laughed. "He could start a business. His cookies are really good" she said.

"I think that's what he wants to do" Troy agreed.

"What do you want to major in at college?" Gabriella asked.

"Health or human biology" Troy replied. "I guess you don't get too many choices with premed" he added.

"Not really" Gabriella agreed. "I'd like to learn another language if I can. We might have some very similar subjects" she said.

"Yeah" Troy agreed.

"Have you thought any more about other colleges?" Gabriella asked.

"I looked on line for some colleges near the beach, and the various college basketball teams. I still think U of A is my best hope for a scholarship though" Troy said.

"Do Stanford have a basketball team?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah they do but I'm never going to get the sort of grades I'd need to get into Stanford Gabriella" Troy said.

Gabriella looked sad at that but had to admit he was probably right. "Which colleges have the best basketball teams?" she asked.

"Duke in North Carolina, Boston U, UCLA, University of Florida. I wouldn't get a starting position on any of those teams" Troy said dismissively.

"Troy" Gabriella scolded.

"Gabriella I'm not being overly negative. I'm a point guard which is generally the shortest person on any team but I'm still about four inches too short." Troy said bluntly.

"You've said that before but even now I bet there are plenty of taller guys on the other teams and you were still beating them" Gabriella said.

"There's a world of difference between high school basketball and division one college ball" Troy said laughing. "I met the scouts for U of A and UNM after the championships and they barely seemed interested" he told her more seriously.

"Troy your sixteen you'll still grow a little more" Gabriella said.

"Yeah the doctor told me to expect maybe another inch" Troy said.

"You saw a doctor about your height?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah Dad took me two or three years ago when he realised I wasn't growing as much as some of the other guys. The doctor reused to put me on growth hormones. He said they were for kids who really needed them not kids like me. There were too many side effects to make it worthwhile" Troy said.

"How did you feel about that?" Gabriella asked.

Troy sighed "At the time I was kinda relieved. Dad wanted to try to find another doctor who would do it but I didn't want to. Now though starting to think about colleges I dunno. I'll kick myself if I don't get on a college team because I refused."

"And could you have lived with the idea that you would never have known if you could have gotten on a team without taking it. It's a banned substance Troy and you would have noticed the drop in performance when you finished the course. It always would be in the back of your mind that taking a little more would make you better again" Gabriella said concernedly.

"Yeah you're right. It wasn't banned back then, particularly in junior varsity but it would have been cheating. I never would know even if I'd really earned my place on the varsity team. It was bad enough thinking Dad put me up early because I was his son" Troy agreed.

"Do you think he did?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "I earned my place on the team last year and this year, but as a freshman it's hard to say that my skills were worth more to the team than having a taller player that didn't play quite so well. I know a couple of the guys resented it when they were pulled off so I could be put on" Troy said.

"And that's where the idea that you had to go along with whatever the team wanted to keep the peace came from?" Gabriella asked.

Troy looked surprised. "Yeah I guess so" he said thoughtfully.

"Does that mean now that nobody questions or resents your place on the team you shouldn't have to do that?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah I think that's part of the reason they came around about the call backs. They saw that their actions were hurting me." Troy sighed. "I just wish I knew if they would still have come around if being upset didn't affect the way I played."

"Chad feels genuinely guilty for his part in what happened" Gabriella commented.

"Yeah. But I'd told him about you. He knew how important you were to me and he and Zeke and Jason promised to protect you and then they hurt you anyway. I never thought you'd need to be protected from my friends like that" Troy said sadly.

"I knew they'd set you up Troy. I even knew you were probably lying to get them off your back the way you do with your dad and the homework. It just hurt to hear you say it anyway. And to know that all your friends and everyone was so against us, not to mention being stabbed in the back by my new teammates." Gabriella said honestly. "I still don't know who I can trust."

"You can trust me Gabriella. I will try never to do anything to betray or deliberately hurt you again. I promise" Troy said earnestly.

Gabriella smiled, she liked the fact that Troy had not promised he wouldn't hurt her, a promise that would be almost impossible to keep but had promised to try not to knowingly hurt her. She knew that teen relationships rarely ended without someone getting hurt somewhere along the line. "I do trust you Troy" she murmured. It was true she did trust him as much as she trusted anyone.

"We can trust Kelsi too" Troy said.

Gabriella smiled "Yeah we can" she agreed. "I should spend more time with her away from rehearsals and try to get her know her better."

"Speaking of time" Troy began looking at his watch.

"Already" Gabriella sighed.

Troy wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked home. "I had fun tonight" he said.

"I did too" Gabriella said smiling.

They arrived at Gabriella's door and Troy leaned in and kissed her softly. Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck running one hand up into his hair holding him in place as she deepened the kiss. Troy ran his hands down her back pressing her body against his for a moment before stepping back. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Gabriella" he said huskily.

"Good night Troy" Gabriella replied hugging him again before unlocking the door.

Troy stood on the porch smiling until Gabriella was safely inside before taking off running towards his house.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, Ceciliaa93, ENPD, LaueeeCarter, Dog Ear Inuyasha Lover and Guest for your support.

A/N2: I'm sorry to say I've caught up with what I had written so updates will take longer.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy picked Gabriella up to go to Kelsi's the next afternoon. "How was your morning with Taylor?" he asked.

Gabriella sighed, "It was okay" she admitted. "When I don't think about what happened with them trying to ruin our relationship then we get along well. We have a lot in common and she could become a good friend if I could trust her."

"What about the other girls on the decathlon team? From what Chad said he and Taylor actually planned the whole thing. They didn't have anything to do with it" Troy asked.

"They didn't try to stop her they just stood there and watched it happen and they were there when Taylor and Chad organised it" Gabriella argued.

"Yeah but you've said they really didn't know you then. Taylor was the one to approach you for the decathlon team and from what I've seen they tend to just go along with authority figures and she is the team captain.

"Yeah I'll keep an open mind. Taylor is the only one trying to make plans to hang out outside of school and decathlon training though. What about you did you have fun with Chad and the boys?"

"I had breakfast with the Danforths which was good though Charlotte was being a pest and trying to get Chad into trouble. Then Jason and Zeke came over and we raced on Mario cart for a while" Troy said.

"Who's Charlotte?" Gabriella asked interested, anyone giving Chad a hard time was someone she wanted to know.

"Chad's sister, she's nine. She doesn't like me" Troy answered.

"Why not?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, she never has" Troy replied.

"You took her big brother's attention away from her" Gabriella suggested.

"Yeah probably" Troy agreed.

They knocked on Kelsi's door.

"Hello Sir I'm Troy Bolton and this is Gabriella Montez, we're here to practice with Kelsi" Troy said.

"She's out in her shed. Do you know the way?" Mr Neilson replied opening the door wider to let them in.

"Yes Sir" Gabriella said. They made their way out the back and Troy knocked loudly on the shed door.

"Hey Kelsi it's me and Gabriella" Troy called.

"Hey Troy, Hi Gabriella" Kelsi said opening the door. She gave Gabriella a quick hug and led them both in."

"Hi Kelsi. Are you working on something new?" Gabriella asked.

"Not really just playing around hoping inspiration will strike. My stepbrother has a couple of his mates over and Mom's taken my little sister shopping" Kelsi said. "Let's get to work."  
Practice went well and they both finished feeling they had a good knowledge of the songs. "If only the speaking lines were this easy to learn" Troy said sighing.

"They could be" Gabriella said. "Bring your script and your ipod over tomorrow and we'll record some of the scenes. Kelsi can you come and read the other characters for us."

"Sure" Kelsi agreed.

"Bring your homework as well if you want Troy and I normally do ours together Sunday afternoon" Gabriella added.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on a study date" Kelsi asked uncertainly.

"It's not that sort of study date we really do do our homework together, we started doing homework on Sundays even before we started dating" Troy reassured her.

"What do you mean not that sort of study date?" Gabriella asked confused.

"You know the sort of date where a girl asks you over to study and you get there to find her in the skimpiest clothes and you don't actually need your books except as an excuse in case her parents arrive home early" Troy explained.

Gabriella shook her

"No seriously we finish all our homework for the weekend and then maybe watch a movie if there's time. My Mom will be home" Gabriella said. "You're welcome to stay. I can help you with stuff too if you want."

"If you could help me with my math that would be a godsend" Kelsi replied. "But I don't want to be in the way I know you're both so busy you don't get much time to spend together."

"I'm happy to help with your math. You're our friend too Kelsi. We want to spend some time hanging out with you apart from working on the show" Gabriella said.

"Are you going out tonight?" Kelsi asked.

"No I'm hoping to convince Troy to stay for dinner and hang out for the evening" Gabriella said smiling at Troy.

"Shouldn't you ask your Mom first?" Troy asked.

"No she likes you you'll be welcome" Gabriella replied smiling.

"Okay then, I'll just call home and ask" Troy agreed smiling. He rang the house and spoke to his mother.

"Hey Mom, I'm staying at Gabriella's for dinner I'll be late home" he said.

"Troy..." Lucille began.

"I'll see you tomorrow" Troy interrupted uncompromisingly. In his opinion if they expected him to take on the responsibilities of an adult ie all the cooking cleaning laundry and shopping then he deserved to be treated like an adult as well. Which meant he was no longer prepared to ask his mother's permission to eat at Gabriella's when she was home to cook dinner for herself and his father.

"Troy I want you home for dinner tonight" Lucille argued.

"Why is there something special on? Are we having visitors?" Troy asked.

"No I just want to have a family dinner for a change" Lucille said.

"I eat dinner with Dad almost every night. You are welcome to join us but I have plans for tonight" Troy said impatiently.

"Troy I'm your mother" Lucille said angrily.

"Yeah on the weekends" Troy agreed. "I don't want to come home for dinner and listen to you and Dad arguing."

"Troy I'm your mother and I'm telling you to be home for dinner."

"And I'm your son, not your housekeeper" Troy replied. "You can't expect me to pretty much run the house and do all the shopping and cooking for weeks and then treat me like a small child when it suits you. I'm having dinner with Gabriella and Ms Montez and staying to watch movies. I'll see you tomorrow if you're around" he said before hanging up. He knew he'd likely be in trouble with his parents but he was fed up.

Gabriella winced as she overheard the end of Troy's conversation. She wrapped her arms around him resting her head on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to make trouble for you with your Mom" she said in a small voice.

Troy shrugged, "Don't worry about it Gabriella. It's not your fault that I'm angry with her and if it hadn't been plans with you it would have been with Chad or the guys or something else" he said reassuringly.

They arrived at Gabriella's to find the house empty. "That's funny I wonder where Mom went" Gabriella said.

"Would she have left you a note?" Troy asked.

"Yeah it'll be on the fridge" Gabriella said leading the way into the kitchen to look.

"Dear Gabriella,

I have been called in to manage an urgent issue at work

dealing with one of our London contracts.

I should be home about eleven o'clock.

Ring for takeaway if you like and don't wait up

See you tomorrow

Love Mom."

"I should go" Troy said. "Your Mom won't want me here when she's not home."

"I'm sorry Troy. You're Mom will be angry"

"Yeah and I hate to let her think she's won" Troy said pulling a face. "Maybe I'll go scrounge some dinner off Mrs Danforth."

"Or you could stay and eat with me. I invited you in good faith before I knew Mom wouldn't be home" Gabriella suggested.

"We could go out" Troy suggested instead. "We could go to the diner, they have pretty decent food."

"Two dates in one weekend. Are you sure your reputation as a player will survive it" Gabriella teased pleased at the idea.

"It's your reputation I worry about" Troy muttered.

"Stop it. I can stand up for myself. I learned a long time ago not to let the opinion of strangers worry me" Gabriella said firmly. "We're having dinner together so what worries you most the gossip or upsetting my mother"

"Upsetting your Mom" Troy replied immediately. "She's the only person other than you that could stop us from being together. Are you ready to go or should I go for a walk to give you time to get ready?"

"These clothes are okay aren't they?" Gabriella asked uncertainly.

"You look great" Troy agreed nodding enthusiastically.

"Did you want to ask Chad and Taylor to meet us there?" Gabriella asked.

"Chad's going to Sean's party" Troy replied. "I don't know about Taylor."

Troy took Gabriella's hand and they walked towards the diner. "Is this place a hangout for the team?" Gabriella asked.

"Kinda" Troy agreed. "I don't get much time to hang out, and Dad doesn't like me eating there though" he added.

"Then maybe we shouldn't go. I have enough bad influence in your diet as it is" Gabriella said worriedly.

"Nah it's cool. They have healthy food too. Dad just doesn't believe I'd order it if I was hanging out with the guys" Troy said casually.

"And he'd be right?" Gabriella said knowing how peer group pressure worked.

They reached the diner and found it full of preteen boys celebrating someone's birthday. Gabriella took one look around and turned to Troy. "Let's go somewhere else" she suggested.

Troy blushed "There's nowhere else that serves food that fits into my diet that I have enough money to take you to tonight" he said.

"Then let's go home and cook our own dinner" she suggested.

"If you're sure" Troy agreed and they walked back out.

"I'd forgotten how loud and obnoxious boys in junior high could be" Gabriella said. "I feel sorry for the parents trying to control that."

Troy laughed. The party at Sean's will be twice as loud as that" he commented. "What are you going to cook me for dinner?" he asked teasingly.

"You're the one who can cook I should set you loose in the kitchen" Gabriella teased back.

"I'll help" Troy offered.

Gabriella laughed and they went to check out the fridge. "It looks like Mom was planning to shop this afternoon until she got called in" Gabriella said apologetically.

Troy took a look and quickly began pulling things out of the fridge. "Omelettes or quiche?" he asked.

"I can't make either" Gabriella said.

"I can which do you like?" Troy asked.

"Quiche" Gabriella said. "What can I do to help?"

"Are there any onions in the pantry?" Troy asked. "And do you want a pastry base?"

"What would you make at home?" Gabriella asked.

"I'd probably make some with pastry for Dad and some without for Mom and I" Troy replied.

"Without" Gabriella declared. "I want us to stick to your diet as much as possible tonight."

Troy efficiently made the quiches and they sat in the kitchen to eat. "This is amazing" Gabriella said.

Troy smiled and blushed. "Mrs Danforth taught me, this is one of her favourites" he admitted.

"Have you considered taking the Food tech class at school?" Gabriella asked.

"I did at junior High and in the 9th Grade but the class this year is all baking and desserts" Troy explained pulling a face.

"Most people wouldn't find that a drawback" Gabriella commented.

"Most people would be allowed to eat the treats they made" Troy replied dryly. "But I really am only interested in cooking to survive. It's one of my favourite chores but I wouldn't choose to cook every night if I didn't have to."

"I'm sorry I made you cook tonight" Gabriella said apologetically.

"No cooking with you was fun" Troy refuted smiling.

Troy left after dinner not wanting to upset Maria with his presence or make her think he and Gabriella were breaking her trust.

"Hi Mom" Gabriella said coming down to get a drink and finding her mother in the kitchen having just arrived home.  
"Did you make the quiche?" Maria asked surprised to see it in the fridge. She pulled it out and put a piece on to heat.

"No Troy did. I invited him for dinner before I found out you weren't going to be home" Gabriella said. "He'd already called his Mom and got in an argument about it on the way home from Kelsi's. We tried to go to the diner but it was full of twelve and thirteen year olds running and shouting and Troy didn't want to break his diet again so we came home and cooked"

"Gabriella you know I don't like you having boys visit when I'm not home" Maria scolded.

"It's not like you don't know Troy" Gabriella said. "You can trust him."

"Gabriella we've had this discussion. I like Troy but you know the rules. No boys in the house when you're home alone. That especially means your boyfriend" Maria reminded her daughter tiredly.

"So would it be okay for Troy to come over if Kelsi is here too?" Gabriella asked.

Maria frowned. She wanted to say no but was worried that of she made the rule too strict Gabriella and Troy would just ignore it anyway. "I want to meet Kelsi before I decide that" she said to give herself more time to make a decision.

"She's coming over to study with us tomorrow afternoon" Gabriella replied.

Maria looked at Gabriella surprised.

"She offered to come and help us run through our lines so we could record them on our ipods. Troy's having trouble learning them and I thought this might help. I offered to have her stay and do homework with us" Gabriella explained. "Did you sort your crises out?" she asked.

"Yes, it was only urgent because of the timing, it needed to be done before the end of the day in England" Maria explained tiredly. "This is really good" she exclaimed tasting the quiche.

"Yeah" Gabriella agreed smiling. "I think I could make it again. Troy showed me how."

Kelsi arrived before Troy the next day. "Am I too early?" She asked.

Gabriella smiled "No Troy's running late. He was training with his dad and had trouble getting away to shower." She took her through to the study where Maria was catching up on paperwork. "Mom this is Kelsi. Kelsi my mother Maria Montez" she introduced.

"Nice to meet you Ms Montez. Thanks for having me over" Kelsi said smiling.

"Nice to meet you Kelsi. Gabriella tells me you composed the show she's in. That's quite an achievement" Maria said. "And you've come to help Troy learn his lines?"

"Yeah we thought if we recorded them he could listen to them while he runs in the morning. He learnt the songs easily enough like that" Kelsi explained. "And then he and Gabriella offered to help me with my math homework."

"You mean Troy offered to let Gabriella help?" Maria asked.

"No Troy's pretty good at explaining math he's helped me before. I don't know why he doesn't do better than he does" Kelsi said.

"He deliberately tanks during the season so your teacher will tell coach Bolton he's struggling and he'll get time off training to study" Gabriella said disgustedly. "I shouldn't have told you that. Troy told me in confidence."

"I won't tell anyone" Kelsi promised.

Maria just shook her head. He worries about Troy's home life increasing.

Gabriella left her mother to talk to Kelsi as she answered the door.

"Sorry I'm late" Troy said kissing Gabriella lightly.

"Come on in I need to rescue Kelsi from Mom" Gabriella said.

"Your Mom's nice" Troy said reproachfully. "Was she cross about me staying for dinner?"

"Yeah! She said no boys allowed while she's not home" Gabriella said ruefully.

Troy winced. "I'm sorry Gabriella. Should I apologise to your Mom too?" He asked quietly.

"No I think if she knew you knew you weren't allowed to stay it'd make things worse" Gabriella said. "It'll be okay if we don't do it again. She was impressed by the quiche though."

"That's good" Troy said smiling "it wasn't anything fancy."

"It's what got me caught. Mom knew I couldn't have made it" Gabriella said. "I should have sent it home with you."

"No if you'd tried to hide me being here and she found out we'd be in even more trouble" Troy said.

"Hey Ms Montez" Troy said as they arrived at the study to collect Kelsi.

"Hello Troy" Maria said coolly.

"Will it disturb you if we work in the dining room or should we go upstairs?" Gabriella asked.

"The dining room will be fine" Maria said.

They got started and after a few false starts and a lot of giggling they finally had the first act recorded.

"Let's take a break and do our homework before we do the next act" Troy suggested.

"It was late by the time they'd all completed the work they wanted and had recorded the second act.

"I've got to go" Troy said apologetically. "I promised Mom I'd be home for dinner."

"We'll do the third act at school tomorrow" suggested Kelsi. "Thanks for the help with my maths."

"You're welcome Kelsi" Gabriella said warmly.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, ceciliaa93, ENPD, stordec23, MamaKitty2013, troyella and outlawqueen ship, and southernyankee for your support.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N: I'm going to skip through the next month or so. Rehearsals are going well (Sharpay is behaving herself). Things with Troy and Gabriella are going smoothly and their relationship is growing slowly.

"Brad's having a party this Saturday. His parents are away for the weekend" Troy told Gabriella as they walked home from rehearsals Tuesday night a couple of weeks later.

"You have to go" Gabriella said. It wasn't really a question she knew Troy was expected to support the team like that.

"Yeah. It will be a big party the whole senior class and a lot of the Juniors will probably go" Troy answered.

"So it won't be like Emily's party?" Gabriella asked.

"No because it's bigger there probably won't be any games until late in the evening when nearly everyone's drunk and even then a lot of people will choose not to play" Troy replied. "Do you want to come with me? I'll understand if you'd rather not, we could do something first and I'll go to the party later."

"I'll come with you and you can use my curfew as an excuse to leave early if it gets out of hand" Gabriella said.

Troy smiled. "Okay" he said.

"Will we be outside like at Emily's?" Gabriella asked trying to plan what to wear.

"Yeah probably" Troy replied. "I can't walk you home tomorrow night I'm babysitting."

"That's fine Troy I can get home safely though I enjoy walking with you" Gabriella replied.

Troy laughed. "I like walking with you too. Sometimes I think it's the only time I get to just be us."

"Yes well we knew we'd be busy. Things will go back to normal after the show" Gabriella said encouragingly.

-o0o-

It was pouring the next afternoon as they got out from rehearsals. "Oh no" Gabriella exclaimed.

"I'll ask Uncle Steve if we can drop you off" Troy offered texting his uncle. "It shouldn't be a problem".

They stood in the entrance making idle conversation about what homework they had that night when Steve pulled up.

"Wait here a sec" Troy said running across to the car. Seeing Jakie in the back he climbed in beside him. "Hey Uncle Steve can we drop Gabriella home? It's almost on our way and I don't want her to have to walk in this rain but her Mom's still at work" he asked.

"Sure Troy call her over" Steve said good naturedly.

"Hey Gabriella wanna ride?" Troy called.

"Thanks Troy" Gabriella said running around to get in the other side of the back seat.

"Uncle Steve this is my girlfriend Gabriella Montez, Gabriella this is Dad's brother Steve Bolton and this is Jakie Bolton who you've heard me talk about" Troy introduced.

Steve frowned a little at the way Troy introduced his son. "Pleased to meet you Gabriella" he said gruffly.

"Pleased to meet you Mr Bolton, thanks for the ride" Gabriella said politely. "And pleased to meet you too Jakie" she added shaking the toddler's hand.

"Where am I to take you?" Steve asked.

"27 Elmwood Street" Gabriella replied.

"Left as we leave the parking lot then the second left and the third right" Troy added.

"Twoy" Jakie said trying to get the older boy's attention.

"Hi Jakie, have you had a good day with Sophie?" Troy asked.

"Sossie, baby" Jakie said smiling.

"You played with Bree" Troy said smiling. "Can you say hello to Gabriella?"

"Hello" Jakie said.

"Hello Jakie, what are you and Troy going to get up to tonight?" Gabriella asked.

"Outsi" Jakie said.

"No we can't go out in the rain" Troy said chuckling.

"You were just as bad at his age" Steve said reminiscently. "He doesn't have your aversion to wearing clothes though thank goodness."

Troy blushed scarlet and Gabriella laughed. "I was one" he said defensively.

"I have at least two whole year's worth of photo's where you were either naked or trying to pull your clothes off" Steve teased.

"I'm never introducing you to any of my friends again" Troy said crossly.

Gabriella laughed.

Steve pulled up in front of Gabriella's house. "Thanks for the ride" she said to Steve, "Call me when he's asleep" she said to Troy leaning across Jakie to give Troy a kiss on the cheek.

"Tiss Tiss" Jakie demanded and Gabriella laughed and gave him a kiss too.

"Oi stop flirting with my girl" Troy said tickling Jakie making him squeal with laughter.

"Bye Troy"

"Bye Gabriella talk to you later" Troy replied grinning at her.

"Bye bye" Jakie waved.

"Bye Jakie, you're almost as cute as your cousin" Gabriella said.

"I'm not cute" Troy protested.

"Sure you are" Gabriella said winking at him as she got out of the car.

Steve laughed. "You've got your hands full with that one Troy" he commented.

Troy just grinned. "I'm gonna have my hands full with this one keeping him distracted about not being able to go O-U-T-S-I-D-E" he said. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Dinner with my boss" Steven said.

"Sounds like a barrel of laughs" Troy commented.

"It won't be too bad we get along well enough and his wife's a wonderful cook. I meant to ask though can you babysit the weekend after next it's our wedding anniversary and I want to take Debra away?"

From afterschool Friday until Sunday afternoon?" Troy asked. "I'd have to reschedule a couple of things but should be able to" he said agreeably. "I'll ring you tomorrow to confirm it."

"Thanks Troy" Steve said. "It's a surprise so don't mention it to Deb."

"Sure" Troy replied as they pulled in the garage. He carefully extracted Jakie from the car seat and hurried into the house with him before stripping off his coat and setting him loose to find his mother.

"Hello Jacob Did you have a good day?" he heard his Aunt say from the kitchen.

"Hi Aunt Deb" Troy said following him.

"Hello Troy" Deb said looking up from where she was preparing dinner for he and Jacob. Jacob was at her feet pulling on her dress so Troy scooped him up. "Hey Jakie wanna play blocks?" he asked carrying him into the lounge and getting out the blocks trying to engage the toddler's attention. He was succeeding when Deb and Steve came in to say goodbye. "Dinner will be twenty minutes. You've got time to bath him" Debra said as Steve picked up Jakie to hug him before handing him to his mother who kissed him and passed him back to Troy.

"No point he'll need another bath after dinner anyway" Troy said.

"You don't have to let him feed himself you know" Debra said.

"But he loves it" Troy countered.

Debra laughed ruefully. "You're making work for yourself but as long as you clean up the mess."

Troy attempted to reinterest Jakie in the blocks but he'd had enough of sitting still.

"No Jakie you mustn't run in the house. You'll get hurt" Troy said catching the little boy and scooping him up in his arms.

Jakie squirmed and threw himself backwards trying to get free. Troy got a good grip on his legs and let him tip himself upside down swinging him back and forth as Jakie giggled. He moved to where the cathedral ceiling was at its highest and there was plenty of clear space in front of him before swinging Jakie high in the air so he could catch him again the right way up.

Jakie immediately tried to throw himself back again so Troy swung him down again so his hands were brushing the floor before throwing him up again and getting a better grip. "No more Jakie. You'll make yourself sick" Troy said. "Do you want to dance?" he asked putting his ipod on and dancing around the living room swinging the child around energetically.

The oven timer dinged. "Dinner time Jakie are you hungry?" Troy asked carrying him into the kitchen and buckling him into his seat.

"Tuna" Troy said unenthusiastically. "Do you like tuna?" he asked Jakie dishing him up some and putting it aside to cool. He raided the fridge for salad vegetables and served himself a small amount of the tuna casserole smothering it with cheese.

"Teese, teese" Jakie called so Troy put a small amount of grated cheese in a bowl for him.

"You like cheese?" Troy asked.

He started eating his own dinner passing Jakie's over to him once it had cooled enough.

"Yuk Yuk" Jakie exclaimed throwing the bowl of tuna casserole on the floor.

"Naughty boy" Troy scolded. "You mustn't throw food. Now Troy has to mop the floor" he said leaving Jakie in the highchair while he picked up as much of the dinner as he could and fetched the mop to clean up.

"Down down" Jakie demanded.

"No Jakie I need to clean up the mess you made. You'll have to wait there" Troy said firmly.

He mopped up then took Jakie up to the bathroom and stripped him off.

"Baff" Jakie said.

"Yes you can have a bath. Do you want bubbles?" Troy said turning on the taps. He adjusted the water and added some bubble bath.

"Bubboos" Jakie crowed.

"Yes Jakie bubbles" Troy agreed.

He turned off the taps and lifted the toddler into the water. Watching him carefully as he happily splashed and played with the bubbles until the water started to cool.

Jakie started to struggle as Troy lifted him from the water and Troy had difficulty holding on to the slippery boy. "  
Stop it Jakie. It's time to get out" he said wrapping the still kicking child in a towel and carrying him over to his change table where his pyjama's were laid out. Jakie made it difficult but eventually  
Troy had him dried and dressed. He carried him downstairs and sat him in front of his favourite DVD while he made the little boy something else to eat.

Putting him back into the high chair he gave Jakie some vegetables and tried to spoon feed him some Tuna casserole.

Jakie screwed up his face and pushed the spoon away so Troy didn't push it quickly making some macaroni and cheese for the toddler instead.

Jakie settled to sleep relatively easily. Troy had read him two stories then when he was half asleep had got out his history book and read about the civil war. He noticed that like last week reading out loud seemed to help him remember better. Looking down to the now soundly sleeping baby he kissed his forehead. "You'll soon be too big for me to read to sleep down here Jakie" he said quietly. "I'm gonna miss our cuddle time." He stood up and carried the baby upstairs carefully tucking him into his cot and grabbing the baby monitor before heading back downstairs already dialling Gabriella's number.

"Hey Troy, I didn't expect to hear from you yet. Is everything okay?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"Yeah Jakie was tired and fell asleep early" Troy replied smiling.

"So you've had a good evening?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah except Aunt Deb cooked tuna and Jakie hated it as much as I do and threw it all over the kitchen" Troy said.

Gabriella laughed. "Oh dear" she said. "Did you get it cleaned up?"

"Yeah though I should mop just to be sure. Tuna stinks bad enough when it's fresh" Troy replied.

"Let your aunt do it in the morning. She had to have known Jakie didn't like tuna" Gabriella suggested.

Troy laughed "Have you got much work to do tonight?" he asked.

"I have a calculus test tomorrow and a Chemistry prac to write up and I want to get a head start on our next English assignment" Gabriella replied. "What about you?"

"I have more reading for government, a biology assignment and some stuff for math" Troy said sighing.

"I should let you get to work. Call me if you're having trouble staying awake with the government book again" Gabriella said.

"I can this stuff is pretty boring but surely there's got to be a better book available than this" Troy grumbled.

"I could lend you my government book from my last school. It was pretty good but then you risk the test asking about something that's in your book and not in mine" Gabriella offered.

"I think I'll stick to this one" Troy said. "Taking notes helped last time. I got a really great mark thanks to you. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Troy" Gabriella said smiling.

-o0o-

Troy picked Gabriella up about eight with a six pack of her favourite soft drink under his arm. "Hey Gabriella Ms Montez" he said as Gabriella answered the door.

"Hi Troy" Gabriella said giving him a quick hug.

"Hi Gabriella. You look great but you'll need your coat" Troy said hugging back.

"Hello Troy. What time will the party finish?" Maria asked wanting to set a curfew.

"To be honest it will probably go most of the night" Troy said not mentioning that most of the partygoers would be too drunk to return home for the night.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with that can you have Gabriella home by twelve thirty please" Maria said.

"Sure Ms Montez" Troy said pulling out his phone and setting an alarm as Gabriella went to get her coat. "In case we lose track of time" he explained.

"Bye Mom" Gabriella said kissing her mother's cheek.

"Goodnight Gabriella, have fun you two" Maria said smiling as Troy took Gabriella's hand as they left the house. They walked towards the party.

It was fairly quiet as they approached Brad's house. "Are you sure it's going to be a big party?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah a lot of people meet up and have a few drinks before coming to a party like this" Troy explained. "And Brad's being sensible not having the music too loud. Otherwise he'd get complaints from the neighbours and they'd call the police right on ten o'clock. He's lucky tonight though, a lot of his neighbours have gone to the wedding his parents went to."

They went in to find the house fairly crowded, there were girls dancing in the lounge, guys playing pool in the rumpus room and groups of people hanging out in the kitchen, dining room and outdoor areas.

Troy called greetings to several people as they walked through the house and outside where it was quieter. They were surprised to find Kelsi there talking to several other people from the drama club and stopped to talk to them for a while grateful that Sharpay and Ryan weren't among them.

They were still sitting outside talking to Kelsi when Jess and Melissa started trying to round people up to go inside and play glowsticks. "Come and play Troy" Jess called.

"No thanks Jess. We're happy out here together" Troy declined.

Gabriella was silent trusting Troy would explain later why she wouldn't want to play.

"How do you play?" Kelsi asked.

"They hand out glowsticks and the girls put them around their wrists then they turn out all the lights and you pair up with someone who has the same colour stick as you do. It's totally dark and the music's turned up loud so you can't recognise people's voices" Troy explained.

"And they have sex?" Gabriella asked.

"Not necessarily though some people will. You're expected to at least make out but anything more than that is completely up to you" Troy said. "It's probably pretty safe so long as you don't mind kissing someone you don't know. Sometimes they turn the lights back on later and you find out who you were with other times you'll never know."

"This is your favourite game Troy. Sure you don't want to play?" Melissa said flirtatiously.

"That's what Liana said about the last game" Gabriella said annoyed.

"I'm sure I want to stay out here with Gabriella" Troy replied firmly. "You're wasting your time here Melissa."

"Um I think I might go home" Kelsi stammered.

"Would you like us to walk you?" Troy asked immediately.

"No it's just around the corner" Kelsi said confidently.

"Then it's no hassle for us to see you get home safely" Troy replied getting to his feet and offering a hand to each girl. They slipped out the side gate and walked the five or six houses to Kelsi's.

"Thanks for walking me home guys" Kelsi said smiling. "I'll see you at school on Monday"

"See you Kelsi" Troy replied.

"Bye Kelsi. I'll call you tomorrow" Gabriella said.

"Do you want to go back to the party?" Troy asked. "We've got about two hour before you have to be home."

"Not if everybody's playing a game" Gabriella said remembering what happened last time. "Was Melissa right? Is this your favourite game?" she asked curiously.

"I used to like the anonymity of it. The fact the girl I was with wasn't looking to hook up with Troy the basketball captain. I could be myself in the dark without disappointing anybody's expectations. But I get to be myself all the time with you Gabriella so I don't feel the need to play anymore" Troy explained. "I don't want to make out with some stranger in the dark. I want to make out with you."

"All the lights are out" Gabriella commented as they arrived back at Brad's house.

"Yeah the game must have started" Troy said casually. "We can go back around the side."

"Why do you want to go back to the party?" Gabriella asked.

"Because you could sit on my lap outside in the dark and make out" Troy suggested grinning.

"And you could pretend you don't know who I am?" Gabriella asked.

"No" Troy admitted huskily. "I'll always know who you are."

"Or we could go back to your room where it's warm and make out there" Gabriella said shivering.

"Okay" Troy said grinning. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him while they walked.

"Wait here" Troy said leading her through the yard to outside his window then running around the house to open it from the inside. He led her inside and she pushed him into his desk chair and attempted to sit on his lap.

"It would be easier to sit on the bed" he said amused as he tried to stop her from sliding off.

Gabriella glanced at the bed anxiously but then nodded.

"Do you want the light?" Troy asked.

"No not unless you do?" Gabriella said nervously.

Troy moved the pillow and sat leaning up against the headboard in the dim light through the window. "You're in charge of what happens" he reminded her softly.

Gabriella smiled and sat across his lap kissing him passionately.

Troy kissed back careful to keep his arms wrapped around her and his hands in appropriate places. Gabriella squirmed as she became aware of his arousal pressing against the side of her leg.

"Sit still" Troy groaned holding her tightly.

"But..." Gabriella protested trying to move away.

"It's fine Gabriella. I'm not uncomfortable and there's no reason for you to be either.

"You don't need to take care of it?" She asked blushing.

"Later" Troy muttered. "Please sit still" he begged.

Gabriella calmed down realising she wasn't hurting Troy by sitting against his arousal and that she could trust him not to try anything she wasn't ready for. They continued to make out until Troy's alarm went off.

"What's that?" Gabriella asked

"Fifteen minute warning alarm for your curfew" Troy explained. "It gives us time to get to your place before you need to be home."

Gabriella laughed and got up l trying to straighten her hair. "Do I look okay?" she asked.

"You look like you've been thoroughly kissed" Troy said admiring her slightly swollen lips.

"Troy" Gabriella exclaimed.

"You look fine Gabriella" Tory said reassuringly. "Let's go before you're late." They walked companionably back to Gabriella's house and Troy kissed her chastely on the mouth on her front porch before sending her inside. He headed home to the shower to take care of the arousal that was starting to ache he'd been hard so long.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, stordec23, Ceciliaa93, ENPD, LaueeeCarter, Thereadella and guest for your support.


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